Villegas (65) is hot on greens

SOUTHPORT, England -- Amid the wretched English summer, a 26-year-old debutant from the sunny, pristine climate of Medellin, Colombia, shot an inconceivable 65 with a daydream five closing birdies at ruthless Royal Birkdale on Friday.

No, really.

Of all the men to slay the beast, few would ever guess Camilo Villegas, who’d played links golf only twice before (in British Amateurs), used a rare but apt adjective for links golf (“funky”), has yet to win on the PGA Tour (despite earning almost $5 million) and has gained note for his musculature (pinup turns in GQ and in People magazine’s “Hottest Bachelors”).

Predictably, he logged 34 putts Thursday during a 76.

Unpredictably, he winnowed it to 23 on Friday.

“I thought about it a lot, I can tell you that,” he said. On Thursday “everything was bad. I mean, my speed was bad, my short putts were not very good, my stroke wasn’t feeling right, and today I just said, ‘You know what, just don’t think about it, just loosen it up.’ Let the putter head do the work, not my hands, and that was obviously a good thought.”

As that rare golfer from Colombia, in his third year on tour, he’s further evidence of golf’s ever-expanding globalism, and he proved an excellent representative when fielding questions from British reporters about Colombia’s steadily dissolving ill reputation. “I guarantee everyone in this room when you guys visit it’s completely different than what the news says,” he said, later adding, “I miss my country. . . . I’m very proud to be representing them in a good way.”

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Dangling near the cut after eight holes, the British Open-challenged Phil Mickelson finished with seven pars and three birdies, reached seven over par, and declared himself “in it.”

With biblical winds forecast for the weekend, Mickelson said, “I need it. I mean, I need serious weather. I need those guys to struggle. It would be nice if it waited until around 2 o’clock,” when Mickelson would be nearly finished and the leaders just starting out.

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That’s some wrist injury hampering defending champion Padraig Harrington.

After news reports that the injury might prevent him from defending, he shot a commendable 74 on Thursday and a spectacular 68 on Friday, including two birdies and an eagle on the last four holes, to lurk three shots from the top beginning the weekend.

“This whole tournament is likely to be sorted out in the last nine holes,” he said.

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K.J. Choi has some wisdom on the bag: Andy Prodger, who caddied for Nick Faldo when Faldo won his first major, the 1987 British Open at Muirfield.

“Andy is like my big brother,” Choi said. “He’s like an uncle at times. He just makes me feel very relaxed and comfortable out there.”