Dubai winner Willett back to best and now has Augusta on his mind
● Former Masters hero looks to return with a ‘golf game that can get around the course’
Former champion Danny Willett is relishing his next appearance in the Masters after emphatically proving he has rediscovered a game good enough to cope with the demands of Augusta National.
Willett was ranked ninth in the world after winning his maiden major title in April 2016, but had slumped outside the world’s top 450 earlier this season after struggling with injuries and a subsequent loss of form.
However, the 31-year-old from Sheffield is back inside the world’s top 100 following his emotional victory in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, where he carded a final round of 68 to finish two shots ahead of fellow Englishman Matt Wallace and current Masters champion Patrick Reed.
Willett’s decline had already started by the time he became the first defending champion to miss the cut in the Masters since 2004, his second round of 78 in 2017 starting with a demoralising quadruplebogey eight on the first.
Earlier this year he also made an early exit after rounds of 75 and 76, but will make the trip to Georgia in April in confident mood after a well-earned rest with his family.
“It’s going to be nice to get back home and lock the door, do nothing and look forward to where we want to play and what we want to play in,” Willett said.
“And, if we keep doing the work that we’ve been doing at home and keep putting the hours in, hopefully we can come back in January and pick up where we left off.
“We’re fortunate that we’re in all the majors for the next few years, so you can plan around them. I’m going to look forward to getting back to Augusta in April actually with a golf game that can get around the golf course.”
By winning the green jacket in 2016, Willett earned a lifetime exemption for the Masters and five-year exemption for the other three majors, but his win in Dubai also saw him finish 20th in the Race to Dubai by less than 4,000 points from Ryder Cup teammate Rafa Cabrera Bello.
“It’s nice to be back to double figures when you’ve been in the middle of the triple figures for a while,” he said.
“We were kind of in no-man’s land; if we finish top 40 on the Order of Merit ,it doesn’t matter as we’re already in the majors.
“But top 20 was a nice goal and that needed a couple of special weeks, but it gets us
into the Wgc-mexico event next year.
“All these things which seemed so easy when I was top 10, top 15 in the world, where you are setting your schedule around the four majors, the four WGCS, we’ve not had that for a couple of years.
“We’ve not had these events where there are only 70, 75 guys and you’re playing against the world’s best.
“To get back in Mexico is a really good achievement and hopefully then you can press on and get in more and
more events and start to piece together a schedule again that is world class.”
Meanwhile, three-time major winner Brooks Koepka has announced he will play in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA in January. “I’m very excited to be taking part in this tournament again after such a long time away,” said the US Open and US PGA champion.
“It always gathers an unbelievable field and I wasn’t surprised at all to hear it had been awarded Rolex Series status.”
“I’m going to look forward to getting back to Augusta in April actually with a golf game that can get round the golf course”
DANNY WILLETT