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Greensboro, N.C. • Camilo Villegas got away from golf for a little while, and his game came back.
A recharged Villegas shot a 7-under 63 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round at the Wyndham Championship.
North Carolina natives Webb Simpson and William McGirt shot 64, and Scott Langley, Heath Slocum, Paul Casey, Andrew Loupe and Martin Laird were another stroke back in the final event before the PGA Tour's playoffs.
Villegas hasn't won since 2010 and has only two top-10 finishes in the last three years.
After pulling out of the Canadian Open after one round last month, he spent the past week back in his native Colombia for "a little recharge" — leaving his clubs behind in Florida.
"I just thought it was appropriate to hop on a plane and see mom and dad and recharge a little bit," Villegas said.
It helped him make a late charge up the Sedgefield Country Club leaderboard.
Starting on the back nine, he had three early birdies before getting even hotter late: He followed his birdie on the fourth with an eagle on the par-5 fifth, placing his second shot about 3 feet from the stick.
He claimed sole possession of the lead two holes later with a birdie, sinking a 15-foot putt on the par-3 seventh.
But early leads have been something of a curse at Sedgefield. Since the tournament returned to the course in 2008, the only first-round leader to win was Arjun Atwal in 2010.
LPGA Championship
Pittsford, N.Y. • Lexi Thompson and South Korea's Meena Lee shot 6-under-66 to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Championship, the fourth major championship of the season.
Thompson, the Kraft Nabisco winner in April for her first major title, and Lee each made eight birdies and a pair of bogeys at Monroe Golf Club to finish a stroke ahead of ahead of Brittany Lincicome, Colombia's Lisa McCloskey and Canadian rookie Jennifer Kirby.
Shanshan Feng of China, the tournament winner two years ago, was tied for sixth at 68 with 2010 champion Cristie Kerr. —
Thursday's scores
Wyndham Championship
At Sedgefield Country Club
Greensboro, N.C.
Purse • $5.3 million
Yardage • 7,127; Par • 70
First-round leaders
Camilo Villegas 31-32 — 63 -7
William McGirt 34-31 — 64 -6
Webb Simpson 30-34 — 64 -6
Scott Langley 34-31 — 65 -5
Martin Laird 31-34 — 65 -5
Paul Casey 32-33 — 65 -5
Heath Slocum 34-31 — 65 -5
Andrew Loupe 34-31 — 65 -5
Ryuji Imada 33-33 — 66 -4
J.J. Henry 32-34 — 66 -4
Johnson Wagner 33-33 — 66 -4
Ricky Barnes 31-35 — 66 -4
Brian Stuard 31-35 — 66 -4
Steve Marino 33-33 — 66 -4
Mike Weir 34-32 — 66 -4
Steven Bowditch 33-33 — 66 -4
Robert Allenby 31-35 — 66 -4
Tommy Gainey 34-32 — 66 -4
David Lingmerth 32-35 — 67 -3
Carl Pettersson 34-33 — 67 -3
Nick Watney 34-33 — 67 -3
Tim Clark 34-33 — 67 -3
David Toms 34-33 — 67 -3
Jhonattan Vegas 32-35 — 67 -3
Andrew Svoboda 33-34 — 67 -3
Dicky Pride 32-35 — 67 -3
Josh Teater 34-33 — 67 -3
Tim Petrovic 33-34 — 67 -3
Bobby Wyatt 32-35 — 67 -3
Will Wilcox 32-35 — 67 -3
Bo Van Pelt 33-34 — 67 -3
Shawn Stefani 33-34 — 67 -3
D.A. Points 31-36 — 67 -3
Matt Bettencourt 31-36 — 67 -3
Justin Bolli 32-35 — 67 -3
Stuart Appleby 34-34 — 68 -2
Bill Haas 34-34 — 68 -2
Ken Duke 34-34 — 68 -2
Freddie Jacobson 33-35 — 68 -2
Alex Cejka 33-35 — 68 -2
Robert Garrigus 34-34 — 68 -2
Brooks Koepka 33-35 — 68 -2
Michael Putnam 34-34 — 68 -2
Rafael Cabrera Bello 34-34 — 68 -2
Ernie Els 36-32 — 68 -2
Brandt Snedeker 35-33 — 68 -2
Ben Curtis 33-35 — 68 -2
Derek Ernst 33-35 — 68 -2
James Hahn 35-34 — 69 -1
John Daly 35-34 — 69 -1
James Driscoll 35-34 — 69 -1
Francesco Molinari 34-35 — 69 -1
Hideki Matsuyama 33-36 — 69 -1
Chesson Hadley 34-35 — 69 -1
Sang-Moon Bae 34-35 — 69 -1
Brian Davis 34-35 — 69 -1
Robert Streb 34-35 — 69 -1
Kevin Kisner 33-36 — 69 -1
Joe Durant 32-37 — 69 -1
Justin Hicks 36-33 — 69 -1
Kevin Foley 35-34 — 69 -1
Brad Fritsch 34-35 — 69 -1
Jason Allred 32-37 — 69 -1
Luke Guthrie 35-34 — 69 -1
Will MacKenzie 34-35 — 69 -1
Retief Goosen 33-36 — 69 -1
Y.E. Yang 35-34 — 69 -1
Todd Hamilton 34-35 — 69 -1
Bud Cauley 32-37 — 69 -1
Patrick Cantlay 35-34 — 69 -1
Richard Sterne 34-35 — 69 -1
Gary Christian 33-36 — 69 -1 LPGA Championship
At Monroe Golf Club
Pittsford, N.Y.
Purse: $2.25 million
Yardage • 6,720; Par • 72
First-round leaders
a-denotes amateur
Meena Lee 33-33—66 -6
Lexi Thompson 32-34—66 -6
Jennifer Kirby 33-34—67 -5
Brittany Lincicome 33-34—67 -5
Lisa McCloskey 31-36—67 -5
Shanshan Feng 34-34—68 -4
Cristie Kerr 35-33—68 -4
Emma Jandel 34-35—69 -3
Eun-Hee Ji 35-34—69 -3
Ilhee Lee 32-37—69 -3
Mirim Lee 34-35—69 -3
Catriona Matthew 35-34—69 -3
Anna Nordqvist 33-36—69 -3
Brooke Pancake 36-33—69 -3
Angela Stanford 35-34—69 -3
Chella Choi 34-36—70 -2
Yueer Cindy Feng 35-35—70 -2
Tiffany Joh 35-35—70 -2
Jennifer Johnson 34-36—70 -2
Danielle Kang 32-38—70 -2
Lydia Ko 36-34—70 -2
Jessica Korda 36-34—70 -2
Brittany Lang 35-35—70 -2
Megan McChrystal 37-33—70 -2