Willett’s still nuts about defending Masters title
DANNY WILLETT’S last competitive round before his defence of the Masters in 12 days ended in a victory yesterday and a lovely line in self-deprecatory humour.
‘Even a blind squirrel gets to find a nut every now and again,’ he said, after ending a fraught week at the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship with a 4&2 win over Scot Russell Knox.
After two heavy defeats in his previous group matches, it was a hollow victory in many ways but it was good to see him leaving the premises in fine spirits before his week in the limelight at Augusta.
To be fair, the Yorkshireman has never lost perspective, even in the most difficult moments during his year in office, and that quality was in evidence once more.
‘If you can’t enjoy getting to defend a major championship, then I don’t really get why you’re playing the game,’ he said.
‘I’ve got a week in Orlando now to get ready and there are things I need to work on.
‘My driving has not been great for a few months, and I need to get that bullet fade back that served me well at Augusta last time. I just need to get my game a bit sharper.’
Willett was one of 20 players competing yesterday who knew they had no chance of moving from the group stages through to the last-16 knockout phase this weekend.
As if they weren’t disenchanted enough at having to play a meaningless round, the weather was miserable, with heavy showers punctuating the play.
One of the disgruntled was Englishman Chris Wood, and it showed as he was four down after six holes against Kevin Na. Wood is nothing if not a competitor. ‘I was thinking if I wasn’t careful I was going to get a right hammering,’ he said.
From that point on he showed a competitor’s pride, playing his next nine holes in a scintillating eight under par. All told he had 11 threes on his card to come back from four down to complete a remarkable 2&1 victory.
His friend Matt Fitzpatrick came back from two down with four birdies in a row to beat Justin Thomas.
It meant a sudden death play-off between Fitzpatrick and Na — who both finished the group with two wins each — to see who progressed. Na held his nerve to win.
Here’s another weakness of the format: the pair had to wait around for two hours until everyone else had gone off the first before they could contest a playoff that might only last one hole.
Also waiting in a lengthy play- off queue to decide their groups were Lee Westwood and Tyrrell Hatton.
No such problems for Paul Casey, however, who beat Charl Schwartzel in impressive fashion to end up with three wins from his group.
‘The format’s just all wrong, isn’t it?’ said Wood. ‘It was really deflating getting up at 5am for a match that meant nothing.
‘ Why not have 36 holes of strokeplay and then the leading 32 players go head to head?’
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy secured a half in his non- event match against Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.