TAKING THE POSITIVES FROM... A POSITIVE

2016 Masters champ Willett feeling up for the fight after recovering from a bout of Covid

DANNY WILLETT is taking the positives from his case of Covid-19 as the fifth anniversary of his Masters triumph approaches.

The 2016 champion spent a week in bed after his failed test before The Players last month and then suffered from fatigue.

“I am a pretty energetic person and I had narcolepsy for a little bit,” he revealed.

“It was really bizarre. When I sat down for a bit, I would just nod off.”

But rather than see his latest health issue as the another downer in his roller coaster career, the popular Yorkshireman returns to Augusta feeling fit, ready and relieved to be playing again.

“It was nearly a year to the day from when the Players got cancelled I tested positive,” said the world No.74 (right).

“People have had it a lot worse but I was literally in bed really badly for the first seven or eight days and then had seven or eight days feeling pretty rubbish.

“It was not quite what I expected.

Both me and my wife

Nic had it but we are alright now.

“It is strangely nice knowing I basically can’t get ill again for the next three to six months they think. Even that in itself is quite a reassuring, knowing I am pretty safe now.

“With all this stuff you try and take the positives and that is a good place to be. So fingers crossed we can stay fit and healthy and keep doing well.”

Willett deserves a bit of fortune after the last few years dogged by back problems and a loss of form.

Things started to go badly wrong at the 2016 Ryder Cup when his brother wrote a magazine piece mocking Americans – and Nic and his parents were verbally abused on the Hazeltine course.

After losing all three of his matches, Willett was asked to sum up his first Ryder Cup. “S**t” he replied. Asked to expand, he said: “Really s**t.”

And when he missed the cut at the 2018 BMW PGA at Wentworth during the rebuild of his swing with new coach Sean Foley, the former world No.9 fell to No.462.

“It was a rough time, those couple of years,” he said.

But a November Masters saw him make the cut for the first time since winning, after shooting a second-round 66 – his best ever score at Augusta – despite cracking the face of his driver.

“Luckily my three-wood is pretty hot,” he said. He started 2021 with six consecutive made cuts before his positive test stopped his momentum.

He finished eighth on his return in he Domincian Republic but missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open. Willett also turned up under the radar – and late – in 2016 after the birth of his first son Zac.

“The game is in a nice place,” he said. “The body is in a nice place. It is just a matter of managing it all well. I am looking forward to this week.”

And to the rest of his career which includes hosting the Betfred British Masters at The Belfry next month.

“I’m only 33,” he said. “I hope to still have my best years ahead of me.”