Camilo Villegas is a five-time PGA Tour winner. At 43 years old, he understands the grind of professional golf – the highs and lows – better than most. Two years ago, in Bermuda, Villegas, who is from Colombia, broke a nine-year winless drought at the Butterfield Championship and clinched a two-year exemption in the process.

But his two-year pass expired this year, and he landed back at Q-School needing a good four days to regain his fully-exempt status.

“I’ve been able to win in my 40s, which is pretty good,” Villegas said after the second round of Q-School. “But here we are. At the end of the day, whatever I did in the past doesn’t matter. It’s where we are right now.”

Villegas put himself in position to retain his card, but needed a stellar Sunday to finish inside the top five and stay on the top circuit. He eagled the first but double bogeyed the 9th to make the turn at even for the day and well off the pace required to earn his card back. But Villegas put the pedal down on the back nine, making four straight birdies from 14 through 17 to arrive at the 18th hole at Dye’s Valley needing a birdie to get into a playoff.

Villegas split the fairway and knocked his approach close but flubbed the birdie attempt to finish at 10 under, one shot out of the playoff between Dylan Wu and Ben Silverman for the fifth and final card given out at Q School.

While Villegas’ Sunday Q-School charge came up one shot short, he didn’t hang his head and stomp off into the Florida sunset.

Instead, he hung around to watch his friend and fellow countryman, Macelo Rozo, come home in three under to finish in a tie for second and secure a PGA Tour card for the first time in the 36-year-old’s career. After Rozo knocked in his par putt on the 18th hole, his emotions poured out. Rozo celebrated not only with his family but also with Villegas.

Rozo was aware of Villegas’ furious back-nine run and that his friend, with whom he stayed during the pressure-packed week, came up one shot short.

“I watched, I watched,” Rozo said on Sunday. “I think I hit a leaderboard by accident, and I saw his name. Yes, 13. I saw ‘Villegas.’ I was like, I know that guy. He wasn’t going to go down without fighting. He’s feisty, he’s really good, and I think a day like today would favor his game. He’s really good in the wind, as we all know. He made a run. Obviously, I’m sad that he didn’t get all the way to the playoffs to earn a card again, but I’m sure he’s proud of the way he fought.”

With both of their jobs hanging in the balance, Rozo said he and Villegas kept things “light” on Saturday night, and then the five-time PGA Tour winner offered some words of encouragement on Sunday morning as Rozo prepared to chase his dream.

“He came down and just told me, ‘Hey, you’re going to feel it’s going to get away from you at some point. For sure it’s going to happen. Just know that you’ve just got to keep fighting until the end, hitting one shot at a time,'” Rozo said. “He told me, like, look at myself yesterday, I was, I think, four over through nine. He brought it back to even, but he was like, he told me just keep your head in it. It’s going to get tough, but you’re up for the challenge.”

Rozo said that after Villegas and his caddie left the house Sunday morning, Rozo called his mental coach and then cried as the magnitude of the 18 holes ahead of him set in. But he said he embraced the emotions. He held onto them and prepared to finally achieve his dream.

“I told myself, and I even wrote some stuff like with the steam on the shower this morning,” Rozo said. “Like ‘PGA Tour member ’26,’ I wrote that. Those little moments that obviously I haven’t shared with anybody.”

Eighteen holes later, Rozo’s lifelong quest to become a PGA Tour member was complete, and Villegas, even though he came one shot short of joining him, was there to share in a moment that meant more than words could say.

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