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Villegas wins Honda

Camilo Villegas’ 257 was the lowest 72-hole Honda Classic score at PGA National. (Associated Press)
Associated Press
Camilo Villegas’ 257 was the lowest 72-hole Honda Classic score at PGA National. (Associated Press)

Camilo Villegas was checking his phone constantly on the driving range, barely bothering to hit any balls and instead seeking updates on how his brother was doing at a Nationwide Tour event in their native Colombia.

As Villegas showed all week, practice can be overrated.

Villegas shot a 2-under 68 on Sunday for a five-stroke victory in the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., his third PGA Tour victory.

He finished at 13-under 267, the lowest 72-hole score since the tournament moved to PGA National in 2007, four shots better than Y.E. Yang’s winning total a year ago. And Villegas made it look easy most of the way, too, capping his day with a 20-footer for birdie, then raising both hands skyward.

Villegas, who opened with rounds of 66, 66 and 67, earned $1,008,000.

Anthony Kim (67) was second at 8 under, Justin Rose (64) was another stroke back, and Paul Casey (67) and Vijay Singh (72) followed at 6 under.

Champions Tour

Fred Couples won his second straight Champions Tour title, shooting a 6-under 65 for a four-stroke victory in the Toshiba Classic in Newport Beach, Calif.

Couples, making his third start on the 50-and-over tour, had an 18-under 195 total on the Newport Beach Country Club course. He won the ACE Group Classic on Feb. 14 in Florida and finished second behind Tom Watson in the season-opening event in Hawaii. Last week, Couples tied for 14th in the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open.

Couples earned $255,000 to push his tour-leading total to $691,000.

Ronnie Black (65) finished second. Tom Lehman (69) and Chien Soon Lu (69) tied for third at 12 under, and Watson (62) and Loren Roberts (68) followed at 11 under.

Couples opened with rounds of 66 and 64. In nine Champions Tour rounds, he hasn’t had a score higher than 68 and is 56-under par over 162 holes.

Women

Karrie Webb won her seventh Australian Ladies Masters title, closing with a course-record 11-under 61 for a six-stroke victory in Gold Coast, Australia.

Webb, a stroke ahead of defending champion Katherine Hull and South Korea’s Lee Bo-mee entering the final round, finished at 26-under 262 on the Royal Pines course to match the tournament record she set in 1999.

Webb holed a 9-iron approach from about 110 yards for eagle on the par-4 seventh and made a 30-foot putt on No. 18 for her ninth birdie of the round. She broke the course record of 62 set last year by Kristie Smith.

Hull and Lee, bogey-free in four rounds, shot 66s to tie for second.