Ernie Els is not the vengeful type. The amiable, 6-4 South African, whose smile is as wide as his shoulders, earned the nickname ``Big Easy'' as much for his personality as his swing.

But Charl Schwartzel better beware. If Schwartzel beats his idol Sunday on the Blue Monster, he may not be able to rest too peacefully on his laurels.

``He's staying with me again next week,'' Els said of the young guest at his house in West Palm Beach. ``It's going to depend on how it goes down. He might be sleeping in the garden. You never know.''

MIAMI -- Tim Holland, a world backgammon champion who was one of the most prominent competitors in the game's modern heyday, has died. He was 79.

Holland died Wednesday of emphysema at his West Palm Beach home, said his daughter, Vanessa Holland, of San Diego.

Backgammon is a game of luck and strategy, played with checkers and dice on a board with a series of elongated triangles. When it enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, Holland traveled the world handing defeat to opponents.

A raid on three South Florida pain clinics that are suspected of illegally distributing millions of prescription pills is the start of what authorities call a massive investigation of such "pill mills."

"It's a very good start to what is going to be a long process, but this is just example of what's going on," Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. "They represent what the bad pain clinics are doing."

Villegas shot a final-round 68 to win the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., yesterday, giving the Colombian his third PGA Tour victory.

He finished at 13-under 267 for a five-stroke win, the lowest 72-hole score since the Honda moved to PGA National in 2007, four shots better than Y.E. Yang's winning total a year ago. An

Anthony Kim (67) was second at 8-under, Justin Rose (64) was another stroke back, and Paul Casey (67) and Vijay Singh (72) followed at 6-under.

-13 C Villegas (Col)-8 A Kim (US)-7 J Rose (Eng) -6 P Casey (Eng), V Singh (Fiji)

Selected others: -2 L Westwood (Eng) level O Wilson (Eng) +2 G McDowell (NI) +4 P Harrington (Irl), R McIlroy (NI) Villegas is one of the PGA Tour's rising stars

Colombia's Camilo Villegas maintained his advantage to win the Honda Classic at Palm Beach by five strokes.

Villegas shot his worst round of the week - a 68 - but still managed to claim his third PGA career win and his first since 2008.

classic. villegas is at 11-under 199, so even after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch in what became a round of 67, he'll be the one to catch today. looking for his third pga tour win, villegas shot 67 on saturday. green (67) and singh (69

Once threatening to run away after a sizzling start, Camilo Villegas came back to the pack on his back nine and wound up rallying to take a three-shot lead over Nathan Green and Vijay Singh after three rounds yesterday in the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Villegas is at 11-under 199, so even after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch in what became a round of 67, he'll be the one to catch today.

Ashes fell from the sky, smoke filled the air and a thick haze hovered over PGA National.

Some might have found breathing difficult at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Camilo Villegas wasn't among them.

Once threatening to run away after a sizzling start, Villegas came back to the pack on his back nine and wound up rallying to take a 3-shot lead over Nathan Green and Vijay Singh after three rounds.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Ashes fell from the sky, smoke filled the air and a thick haze hovered over PGA National.

Some might have found breathing difficult at the Honda Classic.

Camilo Villegas wasn't among them.

Once threatening to run away after a sizzling start, Villegas came back to the pack on his back nine and wound up rallying to take a three-shot lead over Nathan Green and Vijay Singh after three rounds. Villegas is at 11-under 199, so even after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch in what became a round of 67, he'll be the one to catch on Sunday.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) - A controlled burn about 15 miles from the site of the Honda Classic sent smoky air over the tournament course for Saturday's third round.

The burn was in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, located in Martin County, and northeast winds carried the smoke into Palm Beach County -- including the area around PGA National Resort and Spa, which hosts the Honda.

Haze could be seen all around the course, thicker in some areas than others.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Camilo Villegas is proving that practice is overrated.

Sleep, too, for that matter.

His trip to the Honda Classic could have been an easy five-hour flight from Phoenix. Instead, it was a 2 1/2-day whirlwind through his native Colombia, replete with sponsor events and youth clinics, all as he helped kick off the Nationwide Tour Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open - the first PGA Tour-sanctioned event in his home country.

The temperature climbed, the winds calmed, and PGA National unexpectedly lost a great deal of its bite.

Welcome to the kinder, gentler Honda Classic.

Anthony Kim was one of four players to match the best tournament round shot on the Champion course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., with a 64. Camilo Villegas shot 66 for the second straight day, and they were tied at 8-under-par 132 atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Honda, where the only thing that improved more than the weather yesterday was the scoring.

PALM BEACH GARDENS -- As if tired from an active Thursday buffeting golf shots all about, the PGA National Champion Course winds rested Friday. This cleared the way for four course record-tying rounds and two new leaders, one a tired young man who blew in and out of Colombia this week on his way from Phoenix.

Anthony Kim's 6-under-par 64 gave him a piece of the course record and a share of The Honda Classic lead at 8-under with hemisphere-spanning Camilo Villegas (66). Mike Weir, Paul Casey and Stephen Ames also had 64s to tie the course record set by Luke Donald in the first round in 2008 and matched by Greg Chalmers in last year's second round.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - High on the list of things unlikely to happen again any time soon at the brutal Champion Course at PGA National? How about a quartet of golfers' each tying the course record in tournament conditions?

With winds calming to mere breezes on Friday, things got a little zany in the second round of the Honda Classic. Mike Weir, Stephen Ames, Paul Casey and Anthony Kim attacked the course for four record-tying rounds of 64. And one golfer who was among the leaders called a two-stroke penalty on himself when his club touched the top of a water hazard at the 18th hole.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Alexandre Rocha nearly stopped playing golf last year, until two moves by the International Olympic Committee changed his mind.

And that's just one tiny part of his unbelievable story.

The world's 711th-ranked player - who needed to survive a pre-qualifier, then a Monday qualifier, then a playoff, just to get into the field at PGA National this week - shot a 4-under 66 on Thursday, one shot back of Nathan Green and Michael Connell after the first round on an unseasonably cool first day at the Honda Classic.

PALM BEACH GARDENS -- Alex Rocha's career could aptly be described as part professional golfer and part vagabond.

His golfing journey has taken him to South America, the European Tour, the Asian Tour and Starkville, Miss., among many other places. ``I'm 32,'' Rocha said, ``and I've played golf in more than 80 countries around the world.''

Have golf clubs, will travel.

On Thursday, golf took Rocha to the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens and perhaps his biggest golfing success so far. After the first round, Rocha stood at 4-under-par 66, tied for third with Camilo Villegas and Oliver Wilson, with that trio one stroke behind co-leaders Michael Connell and Nathan Green.

Golf Jack Nicklaus is going to appear at next month's Masters. He thinks Tiger Woods will as well. Nicklaus said yesterday 'it would surprise me'' if Woods did not return to competitive golf in time for the Masters, a tournament the embattled world No. 1 has won four times. 'I suspect he'll play something before Augusta,'' Nicklaus said behind the 18th green at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where the Honda Classic opens today. The Masters begins April 8 .

No one's ever questioned that Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has money to spend. His latest "spending spree" reported by the New York Post sure turned some heads and it also got someone fired from her job.

According to a Post report on Tuesday, Snyder had "spent $600,000 on two alligator leather desks with matching alligator-skin chairs for his offices at FedEx-Field in Landover, Md." The newspaper reported Snyder bought the pieces from the new Giorgio's of Palm Beach on Madison Avenue in New York.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Designed to help millions of Americans aged 50+ who have hearing loss, the AARP Hearing Care program, provided by HearUSA (Amex: EAR), is being launched in Missouri today as part of a nationwide rollout.

While one in 10 Americans have hearing loss, it is older men and women who are much more likely to suffer from this life altering condition. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly one in five adults 45-64 years old; one in three adults 65-74 years old; and half of all adults 75 years old or older have a hearing impairment.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Reebok founder Paul Fireman is suing his longtime accountant, claiming he stole $25 million from him and a charity.

The accountant, Arnold Mullen, has been charged with five counts of grand theft. A phone message was left Thursday by The Associated Press for Mullen and his attorney.

Mullen was released on his own recognizance, but has been placed on house arrest with a monitoring device.