Willett in battle to be fit for Masters

Former champion Danny Willett is battling to be fit for the Masters following surgery.

Willett looked set to challenge for a second BMW PGA

Championship title in September when he covered his first 12 holes in six under par, only to aggravate a shoulder tear after hitting his tee shot on the 15th.

He played through the pain and completed all 72 holes at Wentworth but underwent surgery the following week and faces a race against time to compete at Augusta, where he won in dramatic style in 2016.

“The surgery went really well, I’m back hitting balls right now but Augusta is six weeks away. It’ll be very, very close,” Willett said.

“We thought there

ATHLETICS Three British marathon runners will make their Olympic debuts in Paris after hitting the required qualifying times.

Charlotte Purdue, Calli HaugerThackery and Phil Sesemann become the first members of the athletics team to be formally selected.

Sesemann secured his place after was one tear and when the surgeon went in he realised there were two tears and a good bit of damage around the cartilage and a few cysts he had to clear out.

“It’s been a long time rehabbing it just to get it up to strength to be able to take the capacity and the load that it needs to. We’ll know more when we start practising in America as to how we’re getting on.

“The beauty of potentially playing (the Masters) is the fact that I know the golf course that well I’m probably not going to be slogging around 18 holes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in practice rounds. I’ll be able to take it a little bit easier but I also don’t want to go there and just make up the numbers.”

running inside the qualifying standard at the Seville Marathon earlier this month, while Purdue and Hauger-Thackery hit the required times in races last year.

Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England said: “All three athletes are making their Olympic debuts and I am sure they will relish the opportunity.”