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By Scott Hotard
Naples Daily News
If things go as planned for Chris DiMarco and Camilo Villegas, the players will spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday tearing this course up.
Rather, chomping it up.
On the surface, DiMarco and Villegas don't have too much in common. DiMarco is 39 and Villegas is 25. DiMarco is from Huntington, N.Y., and Villegas is from Medellin, Colombia. DiMarco is known for his irons and Villegas for his driver.
But DiMarco and Villegas, for all their differences, have one important bond that they share. Each player bleeds orange and blue.
It is the reason, you can bet, that they were paired for The Franklin Templeton Shootout, their presence sure to attract University of Florida fans to every Tiburón hole they play.
"Two Gators," Villegas said Wednesday, seated next to DiMarco during a press conference in the media center, "hopefully we can step it up and play some good golf."
DiMarco, for his part, has been playing good golf for quite some time. He has captured three PGA Tour event victories in 18 seasons as a pro.
Villegas, meanwhile, is one of the game's up-and-comers, a flamboyant player with an equally flashy wardrobe. The muscularly build Colombian won his first pro event a couple of months ago -- the Coca Cola Tokai Classic -- helping him climb to No. 58 in the world.
But once they took their seats following Wednesday's pro-am action, each UF product was asked as much about his alma mater as his golf game.
One reporter asked them about the Heisman Trophy race. DiMarco quickly advocated Tim Tebow, rattling off the Florida quarterback's statistics with no problem.
Someone else asked about the colors they would wear on the course this weekend. Orange and blue? No, they both said, but DiMarco figured there would be enough Gators following them to get the point across.
And how about tickets to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando? Had either of them secured some?
"I'll have a few tickets," DiMarco promised, "for sure. I'll probably get about 20 -- at least."
To his partner, that sounded like an invitation.
"I'll take one from him," Villegas said.
But even if he doesn't land a ticket to the Gators' bowl game, Villegas plans to take plenty from the weekend. Say, a trophy and some prize money.
And maybe a lesson or two.
It's clear that Villegas has the potential to make his alma mater proud. He's been a hit on tour thus far, both for his popularity with the ladies -- last year, People magazine named him one of the world's hottest bachelors -- and his long drives off the tee box.
Even so, Villegas knows he has a ways to go. The chance to play with DiMarco, he said, is more than a chance to represent Gator Nation.
"It's been fun to follow those steps," said Villegas, a four-time All-American in Gainesville. "To get better and to improve and to learn. When I was playing at Florida, us both being Gators, you have a closer relationship. Now to be paired in a three-day event like this. ..."
What will DiMarco take from partnering with Villegas? Let's just say the veteran isn't interested in a new approach to reading greens.
DiMarco has seen enough of Villegas to wonder what he's up to. He's like anyone else, amazed by the way the youngster contorts his body low to the ground to read the green.
The technique has earned Villegas the nickname "Hombre Arana" for Spider-Man. DiMarco will leave that stuff to the superheroes.
"He's flexible enough to do it," DiMarco said. "I think my leg would fall off."
So DiMarco will do his thing and let Villegas do his. The way he sees it, that could lead to victory.
The two have been teammates only one other time. That was in June at the CVS Caremark Charity Classic, where they finished tied for third.
"We should have won there," DiMarco said. "We just didn't close out."
They'll try to start and finish strong this time. After all, Gator Nation is counting on it.
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