INTO THE LIGHT
’16 Masters champ climbing back from depths of despair
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Remember Danny Willett? He was the accidental-tourist winner of the 2016 Masters, which was known more for Jordan Spieth blowing a five-shot lead with nine holes to play, lowlighted by a quadruple bogey on the par-3 12th hole, than for who actually won.
Since that win, Willett has been AWOL from leaderboards and seen his world ranking plummet to 320th, and he conceded to falling into a “dark’’ place in his professional life.
After Thursday’s encouraging 2-under 69 opening round that has him tied for eighth at the British Open, three shots behind leader Kevin Kisner, he was asked how “dark’’ those times got since the 2016 Masters. “Pitch black,” Willett said. Enter Sean Foley, Tiger Woods’ former swing coach, whom Willett, desperate to save his flailing career, reached out to last August.
“Danny was in a bad way,’’ Foley told The Post on Thursday. “He was at rock bottom. There’s no another word for it. This was a guy who’d been to the summit and now was at the base of the valley.’’
Willett went from Masters champion in ’16 to playing in 11 PGA Tour events in 2017, missing four cuts and withdrawing from two tournaments. He not only failed to defend his Masters title in ’17, he didn’t even make the cut. He shot 81 and withdrew from the U.S. Open, finished 76th at the British and missed the cut at the PGA Championship.
Along that bumpy road in ’17, Jonathan Smart, Willett’s caddie and friend since they were teenagers, left him in the middle of the Heritage Championship at Hilton Head the week after the Masters after a dispute. Another childhood friend, Sam Hayward, is now on Willett’s bag.
“A lot of people told me when I started with Danny, ‘Oh, he’s done,’ ’’ Foley said. “How can someone be done at 30 years old? But that’s the way of the world — with you when you’re doing well and against you when you’re not.’’
Willett’s 69 Thursday represented the first time he’s shot under par in the opening round of a major championship since that 2016 Masters. That spans nine majors.
It’s been a slow, but steady climb back for Willett under the guidance of Foley. Only lately have results begun to show. After missing eight out of 10 cuts this year, including at the Masters and U.S. Open, Willett tied for sixth at the Irish Open and tied for 19th at last week’s Scottish Open.
Now, through one round at Carnoustie, he’s in the conversation for contention.
Willett credited Foley for being “a massive help.’’
“Not only his knowledge on the golf swing, but how we’ve gone about doing it to free off a lot of the [back, neck and shoulder] pain I was in, but just his demeanor as a person,’’ Willett said. “He’s a very charismatic guy, very upbeat, and I think with where I was, I really needed that. We often have little jokes about where we were. We’ve come a good ways.’’
Foley recalled the telephone call he got from Willett from the WGCBridgestone last August, first seeking help.
“He sent me a video from the Firestone,’’ Foley said. “He was on No. 18, and 18 is 520 yards and he’s hitting 3-iron off the tee. I’m like, ‘Why are you hitting 3-iron?’ He said, ‘Because that’s the only club I could probably get into play.’
“I mean, that’s shocking, right?
You’ve got a guy who finishes second in the Race to Dubai twice, won the Masters, was No. 1 ranked amateur in the world and he’s getting up-and-down from everywhere with his short game to break 80. It was like, ‘Wow.’ ’’
Foley, upbeat, erudite and spiritually uplifting by nature, felt it important to repair Willett’s psyche as much as his mechanics.
“I like making liars out of people, so when people tell me what they can’t do I enjoy telling them one day, ‘Well, you obviously lied to yourself, because you did it,’ ’’ Foley said. “As human beings become more competent, they become more confident. The competency leads to self-belief. How can I believe in myself when I’m hitting it sideways every day?’’
Willett is no longer hitting 3-irons off the tee on long par-4s for fear of hitting it sideways.
“He’s back where he can carry it 300 yards again and can hit all the shots he needs to,’’ Foley said. “He’s hitting more of the shots he grew up hitting, which is a high draw. The cool thing about watching him now is you can see that his swagger is back, but it’s softer. It’s less ambitious and more grateful. And gratitude is a pretty powerful place.’’