Round 2: RBC Heritage

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Camilo Villegas hasn’t had a top-10 since the 2010 THE TOUR Championship.

CAMILO VILLEGAS: Scorecard | Shot Tracker

It only took a trip to his beloved Harbour Town to get Camilo Villegas’ season back on track. His 68 on Friday has him at 8 under and with an assured late tee time on Saturday.

It’s been a welcome change for Villegas. The 2011 season has been that bad.

Villegas began the year in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions but was DQed after signing an incorrect scorecard after a rules violation. The rest of the year has been a total wash — he was bounced in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, and he’s been shut out of the top 25 in all nine events he’s entered.

All from a player that was once ranked as high as seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking. The culprit? Wild driving and bad putting. He entered the week ranked near last in greens hit, putting average and driving accuracy.

Villegas had hopes 2011 would top his career year of 2008, but the bad start hurt.

"I actually practiced in the off‑season more than I probably have in my last five, six seasons on TOUR, and just hoping to get to a great start of the year," Villegas said. "And funny enough, the game of golf comes and bites you and it just wasn’t that way."

But the tight fairways and small greens seen at Harbour Town have gotten him back on track. Midway through the second round, Villegas is leading at 9 under, one shot ahead of defending champion Jim Furyk. He’s hit two-thirds of his fairways and greens — a large number vs. the field this week — and he’s close to securing one of the last tee times for the third round. A lot of that momentum stems from his chip-in for eagle on the par-5 fifth on Thursday (watch it here). He shook off the weather delay to shoot 66, and he’s added five more birdies on Friday.

Villegas experimented with a belly putter earlier this week but decided not to use it. He had just 25 putts on Thursday and a mere 24 on Friday. It hadn’t hurt that he’s been hitting his hitting his irons better than he has all year.

"I’ve been hitting the ball nice this week, I’m excited," Villegas said. "And I’m looking forward to playing the weekend."

Here’s a look at Villegas’ season to date: