The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Willett hopes debut isn’t tarnished by brother
Masters champ fronts up manfully as furore over ‘cretins’ article continues
Danny Willett didn’t even roll his eyes at the questioner; he stared him straight in the eye. “Family’s family,” he said firmly. “He’s still my brother.” Pete, Willett’s older brother, is not here at Hazeltine but his article in National Club Golfer, in which his description of American golf fans as “cretins” is just one of a good number of rather ill-judged epithets, has certainly made its presence felt.
The Masters champion has fronted up manfully, dealing with a furore not of his making and one he has done everything in his power to quell and was peppered with questions about it again yesterday.
He even politely disagreed with a sympathetic American questioner who suggested the article was “obviously joking” and “pretty funny” while the whole furore about it was a little over the top.
“The language was not great, and a lot of things written can be taken in a very bad way,” said Willett.
“He’s apologised to me. What he said was wrong and incredibly ill-timed, but he is still my brother. It’s what he wrote, I didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s not what I think and it’s not what we think.”
Willett spoke to his brother to underline his disappointment, then immediately apologised to Davis Love III, the US captain, “and he was happy to draw a line under it,” he continued.
“I spoke to some of the American guys at the dinner last night and they felt the same way,” he went on.
“Coming to America for this, you’re already a bit of a target, and it may be more centred on me now, but this wasn’t my writing and it isn’t what I think. We’ve been welcomed fantastically by the American fans.
“We don’t think it’s going to be a walk in the park, there’s some pretty rowdy American fans at the Ryder Cup like there is in Europe. That’s how it works. We don’t mind the odd bit of heckling, but we hope it doesn’t go too far.
“It’s my first Ryder Cup, but we don’t want anything that might tarnish the 41st Ryder Cup.”
Willett looks likely to be guided at least part of the way through his debut experience by Europe’s tried and tested rookie guard Lee Westwood, in his 10th appearance.
One might think this one extra special for Westwood because of moving into double figures, his close friend Darren Clarke is captain, and Nick Faldo’s record of points is within his scope this weekend.
“I’d be lying if I said that the record doesn’t interest me, records and being the best are what we play the game for,” he said.
“But I can say that I’d quite happily take not contributing a point and not getting the record if Europe win the Ryder Cup again. I’m not sure I recognise the Darren we have this week, he’s calm and collected and sensible and doing all the right things.
“But I won’t be trying any harder just because he’s my close personal friend, I’ve given everything I have for all the captains and teams I’ve been on and it’s not any different because it’s him.”
Westwood thinks that the US team’s “Task Force” is a complement to give Europe confidence and put additional pressure on the hosts.
“It’s flattering to us that they want to try and copy what Europe have done because it proves we’ve been getting it right,” he said.
“That should give us a lot of confidence coming into this.
“And I think it puts more pressure on them. If you go to the trouble of starting a Task Force to investigate things and try and put them right, and you still don’t win, where do you go then?”