Camilo Villegas' 22-month-old daughter passes away
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Villegas family. RIP Mia.
Camilo Villegas' 22-month-old daughter Mia has sadly passed away after battling tumours on her brain and spine for the past six months, according to the PGA Tour.
"The PGA Tour is deeply saddened having lost a member of our family, Mia Villegas," said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in a statement on Monday. "We grieve with Camilo and Maria and our thoughts and prayers are with the Villegas family."
Villegas, who once reached the world's top 10, revealed his daughter's health battle in June before the start of the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass.
"After the surgery, when it was time to remove the stitches, they learned the growth had become pretty aggressive," Villegas said during that tournament last month.
"We were told we needed to start treatment right away, so they kept us there. Physically, though, she wasn’t ready to get the kind of chemo doctors were hoping for."
Villegas and his wife, Maria, first noticed their daughter was not behaving like her normal self back in February while Camilo was competing in the Honda Classic.
The couple claimed Mia had been crying more in the evenings and stopped wanting to climb and play during her trips to the gym with her dad.
Villegas has understandably not played a competitive golf tournament since finishing tied 33rd at the Korn Ferry Challenge last month.
The 38-year-old is playing on a medical extension and he has 13 starts left on the PGA Tour. His sole start on the circuit this season came at the Honda Classic in February but he missed the cut.
Villegas has four PGA Tour titles to his name (2008 BMW Championship, 2008 Tour Championship, 2010 Honda Classic, 2014 Wyndham Championship) and he once reached as low as seventh in the world rankings.
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