ATLANTA — Camilo Villegas knocked his ball in the water. Double bogey. Then he drove one into a bunker. Make that a bogey.

As he strolled disgustedly to the eighth at East Lake, Villegas looked as though he had thrown away any chance of winning the Tour Championship with two straight miserable holes.

But his caddie wouldn’t hear of it. Gary Matthews looked Villegas straight in the eyes and said, “You ain’t going to give up on me. We can still do it.”

How prophetic.

Villegas made six birdies over the last 11 holes of regulation to wipe out a five-shot deficit before beating Sergio Garcia in a playoff for his second straight victory.

Suddenly, the guy who went 85 starts on the PGA Tour without winning can’t lose. The 26-year-old Colombian went wire-to-wire at the BMW Championship three weeks ago, then survived a thrilling back-and-forth battle with Garcia, Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson that brought a little excitement to a FedEx Cup totally lacking in drama.

“After winning,” Villegas said, “I told myself I will do anything I need to do to keep putting myself in that position again. I did just what I wanted. I gave myself a chance.”

He didn’t have a chance at the FedEx Cup.

Vijay Singh wrapped up the trophy and the $10 million bonus simply by showing up in Atlanta, playing 72 holes and making sure he didn’t do anything stupid like sign a wrong scorecard.

The Fijian won the first two playoff events to build a virtually insurmountable lead heading into the season finale for most of the big names on tour. Villegas finished second in the standings and collected $3 million as his consolation prize, not to mention $1.26 million for winning the tournament.

“It was really weird,” said Singh, who closed with an even-par 70 and finished 16 shots behind Villegas, tied for 22nd in the elite 30-man field. “You make a bogey, you get congratulated. You make a double, you get congratulated. It really didn’t matter what I made. It took away the focus of playing the tournament.”

At least the four-man race Sunday — featuring four of the hottest commodities on a tour without Tiger Woods — stirred up the gallery on a warm, sunny afternoon. Villegas and Kim played in the next-to-last group, Garcia and Mickelson brought up the rear. All four had a share of the lead at various points on the back nine.

Kim and Mickelson, shooting a pair of 69s, each had a chance to join the playoff. Kim missed a birdie from 30 feet, while Mickelson’s 20-footer stayed above the hole.

Having squandered a three-stroke lead to start the final round, Garcia still had a chance to win at the 72nd hole. But he also missed a 20-foot birdie try.

The Spaniard ever gave himself much of a chance on the 18th hole in the playoff. He came out of the shot, and it wound up in deep rough some 30 yards short and right of the flag. His high chip stayed in the collar of the green, and a chip to extend the playoff was well short.

“I was holding on a little bit, and it shouldn’t be that way,” Garcia said. “You should fire away and know the ball is going where you want it to go.”

He’ll likely settle for the Vardon Trophy for lowest adjusted scoring average. Garcia came into the Tour Championship trailing Mickelson by one-hundredth of a point, and wound up at 69.40. Mickelson finished at 69.42.

Woods, who had season-ending knee surgery after winning the U.S. Open, did not play the required 60 rounds to be eligible for the award, which will not be official until the tour’s Fall Series ends the first week of November.

“Fun way to finish the year, have it come down to the last shot,” Mickelson said.

It was the third straight time Garcia has blown a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour over the last three years, including a six-shot advantage at the Wachovia Championship in 2005 and a three-shot lead in the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie.

“I doubted myself too much early on, and it cost me,” he said.

Villegas could relate, especially after those errant shots at the sixth and seventh holes left him on the ropes. His caddie kept him from going down for the count.

“He was probably the only one still believing at that point,” Villegas said. “Somehow that kind of got in my head, and I came back with three straight birdies.”

The run started with a 15-foot putt at No. 8. Villegas trickled in another birdie at the 12th, the ball easing over the edge of the cup on its last turn, and made it five out of six with an improbable 40-footer at No. 13.

“One of those you don’t expect, but you kind of need them to win golf tournaments,” Villegas said. “How long was it? I have no clue. It was long.”

But the shot of the tournament came at No. 17. Trailing Garcia by a stroke, Villegas boldly went at a dangerous flag with a 7-iron from 184 yards.

He knew if he came up a little short, the ball would likely plug in a bunker. If a little long, it would likely have rolled in the water. But the ball stopped 12 feet from the flag, and Villegas calmly rapped in yet another birdie on his way to a 4-under 66.

“At the final second, I looked straight at the pin and said, ’I’m not going to the middle of the green. I’m going dead at it,”’ Villegas said. “It bounced perfect, and the putt was just beautiful.”

At the 233-yard 18th, he struck two equally beautiful lag putts from 45 feet to make pars — first in regulation to finish at 7-under 273, then another in the playoff.

That was good enough.

“Man, I’m proud of myself,” Villegas said. “I’m proud of the way I’ve worked, I’m proud of the way I’ve battled and I’m proud of the way I came back.”