Danny delighted to win battle of the Wills
DUBAI DELIGHT Molinari takes home final prize on European Tour
DANNY Willett drew on the memories of his 2016 Masters triumph to secure an emotional victory in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
It had been 953 long days since Willett won the Masters and – the last time he tasted victory – he had slumped from a career-high of world No 9 to outside the world’s top 450 earlier this season. But after overcoming numerous injuries and a subsequent loss of form, the 31-year-old from Sheffield carded a final round 68 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish 18-under par, two shots ahead of Matt Wallace and current Masters champion Patrick Reed.
“Regardless of what would have happened, I’m in a much better place than where I was,” said Willett, who will climb from 276th in the world to back inside the top 100.
“I knew that things were going the right way and I was doing all the work possible to give myself chances to do this.
“Winning’s a rarity on Tour, really. I’m pleased to have won the tournaments that I’ve won over the last few years. I’ve won some pretty big ones and obviously Augusta is always going to be special.
“But this, coming back after everything that’s happened, is going to go down in the history books for myself as one of the most pleasing.”
Meanwhile, Italy’s Francesco Molinari was almost lost for words after capping an incredible season by winning the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
Molinari became the first Italian player to win a major when he claimed the Open Championship at Carnoustie, which followed victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and a maiden PGA Tour title in the Quicken Loans National.
The 36-year-old then became the first European player to compile a perfect 5-0 record in the Ryder Cup victory at Le Golf National.
And Molinari’s status as European No 1 was confirmed at the DP World Tour Championship as soon as Tommy Fleetwood was unable to claim the victory he required to overhaul his good friend.
“Incredible, incredible,” said Molinari, who embraced Fleetwood on the clubhouse steps once the result was confirmed. “You know, now I’m going to have time to sit down and relax and really think back about the last few months.
“I’m really struggling for words. It’s more than I ever dreamed of achieving.”
Molinari is set to be the first golfer to be awarded the Collare d’oro al merito sportivo, the highest honour conferred by the Italian National Olympic Committee, after which he will face the tough task of planning how to improve next season.
“It does take a big toll and now it’s time to relax and recover and try to get stronger for next year,” he said.