Danny

Willett

The Englishman took on the host course (Seaside) in round one of the RSM. He split just half of the potential 14 fairways and landed half of the greens in regulation. He cited a shoulder injury after the round which would explain the sloppy striking. This will be his sixth career mid-tournament WD on the PGA TOUR (118 starts).

Willett bombarded Silverado Resort and Spa with 20 birdies on the week but it’ll be his closing hole that most remember. He found himself with a one-shot lead and 3'7" for birdie at the par-5 18th while his opponent, Max Homa, was hitting his fourth shot from just off the green. Homa went on to chip-in for birdie while Willett missed the short putt and then proceeded to miss the comebacker, swallowing a tough, closing bogey. He ended the week ranked 6th in strokes gained putting which goes to show how strong his putting was before the final hole. “Disappointing way to finish, but you know, first out of the season, like I said, to be in contention, things are in a good place. Yeah, we’ll live to fight another day.”

The 34-year-old, who arrived off a couple of missed cuts and a T53 at last week’s Open at St Andrews (69-73-73-69), was T51 after an opening 1-over 72, but battled back for his first top 10 of the season in 19 events with 66-68-68. For the week, he totaled one eagle and 14 birdies against six bogeys, two of those bogeys at holes 1 and 2 today, and at last check, ranks 21st SG: Tee-to-Green (5.150) and 10th SG: Putting (5.304), including a 2.132 SGP in R4. The Englishman arrived 153rd in the FedExCup standings, is projected to move to 137th, and is in the published field at next week’s Rocket Mortgage.

The 34-year-old Willett finished T-11 last year before going on to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland later in 2021. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to host the Betfred British Masters for a second time,” said Willett, who joins Ian Poulter (Woburn, 2015), Luke Donald (The Grove, 2016), Lee Westwood (Close House, 2017 and 2020), Justin Rose (Walton Heath, 2018) and Tommy Fleetwood (Hillside, 2019) as a tournament host since the event was restored to the DP World Tour schedule in 2015. The eight-time DPWT winner arrives in England off a stretch of PGA Tour events, with his best performance so far this year coming at the Masters, where he finished T-12. He made eight cuts in 12 starts, and he’s 2-for-4 in DPWT action. This week marks the fifth event appearance for Willett, who has made three cuts with his best finish coming in 2021.

The English duo started their morning on the 10th tee and got straight to work with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11. They added two more before the turn then kicked in a bird at the 1st and drained a 42'2" eagle putt at the par-5 second hole to keep their foot on the gas. “We both played real solid today. Like I said before, we both gave ourselves lots of chances on each hole, which is kind of the key to a pretty stress-free round, apart from the last hole there when tee was a good ways away and I ended up knocking it in the water.” This isn’t their first taste of success at TPC Louisiana as they teamed up to post a T8 last year.

When the Englishman won the 2016 playing 24 major starts ago, he came from three back (T5) with a bogey-free 5-under 67 to win by three as the-then World No. 12. That was his 12th major start and second Masters, and remains his lone PGA TOUR victory, coming 79 starts ago. Willett preceded that with a couple of WGC T3’s but hasn’t recorded another podium on TOUR since, and will look to change that out of the fourth-to-last pairing on Sunday with Corey Conners. At the three-quarter pole, he’s handed in rounds of 69-74-73, and today, mustered one birdie versus two bogeys on six (of 14) fairways and just seven greens in regulation, but posted a sterling 1.39 putts per GIR despite a 3-putt bogey at the par-5 15th from 28 feet. See link below to post-round comments.

The 34-year-old Englishman looked to be trending the right direction Friday after his front nine, turning at 1-under thanks to a birdie at the ninth. But the challenging conditions got the best of him after the turn: “The wind was really messing around for us,” he said of his bogey stretch. “Three pretty easy bogeys and just couldn’t quite do anything coming in.” On the day, Willett hit 11-of-18 greens (down from 13 on Thursday when he shot 69) and 12-of-14 fairways (up from nine). However, the world No. 161 told media Friday that he’s happy with his position at 1-under 143 heading into the final two rounds. “Thirty-six holes to go and nice place to be,” he said. “You just want to be within touching distance so that if you make a run for it, you’re going to be in position.” Willett is making his eighth start at Augusta, where he’s made three cuts with the win in 2016. In 2016, he shot 5-under 283, closing with a bogey-free 67 in the final round to win by three over Jordan Spieth and Lee Westwood.

The Englishman won the 2016 edition as then-World No. 12 for his lone TOUR title to date, where he was T9 (four back) after an opening 70. He’s fell on some lean times at Augusta National since, making just one of five cuts, a T25 two tries ago in the November 2020 playing (71-66-74-73). Today, the 34-year-old landed nine (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, camouflaging two bogeys at holes 1 and 6, with five birdies at 2, 8, 9, 13 and 15, posting a tidy 1.56 putts per GIR with zero, 3-putts. He checked in this week 5-for-9 on the season with one top 25, a T21 at the Shriners back in October, and off a T36 two weeks ago at the opposite-field Corales (71-69-75-67). See link below to Willett’s post-round comments.

This is the 34-year-old’s second Honda, first since a missed cut by one in 2017 (69-72), and is making his first PGA TOUR start since a missed cut by seven at the Houston Open back in mid-November (72-76). Since then, he’s played four events on the DP World Tour, going 2-for-4, including a best of T35 in his most recent action three weeks ago at the Ras al Khaimah Championship. Today, the Englishman squared two bogey-5s at holes 4 and 16, both missed par-savers from 7'6", outpaced by five birdies at 1, 2, 3, 5 and 14, three from between 25 and 32 feet. At last check, he posted 1.374 SG: Off-the-Tee, 0.196 SG: Approach, 1.161 SG: Around, and 1.498 SG: Putting, the latter drug down by two missed birdie tries from inside of 10 feet, lowlighted by a whiff at 13 from 45 inches.

A total of 75 players (74 pros, 1 amateur) from a field of 124 pros and two amateurs made the 36-hole cut of even-par 142, 13 (T63) on the number. Willett, a pre-tourney 40/1 outright, was making his second appearance after a T55 last year, and misses his second cut of the season in three starts (Fortinet). He arrived off a T21 at the Shriners three weeks ago, preceded the week prior by his eighth European Tour victory (on his 34th birthday) at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, his first Euro circuit win since 2019. For the short week in Bermuda, the Jacksonville State Univ. (AL) product totaled seven birdies, outbalanced by six bogeys and three doubles, and ranked T6 in driving accuracy at 75.00 percent (21/28), though T55 in greens in regulation (23/36), T101st in scrambling (46.15 percent), and T80 in putts per GIR (1.826). Other notable early exits include: 143- Jason Dufner; Harry Hall; Nick Hardy; Brian Stuard; Bo Hoag .. 144- Joseph Bramlett .. 145- Anirban Lahiri; Hank Lebioda; Matthew NeSmith; David Lipsky.