It was a long road back to the top for Danny Willett after the toughest period of his career, but when he claimed the prestigious DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in November – his first victory since an historic Masters triumph in 2016 – it was a perfect vindication of his patience during a lengthy, arduous process.
Exactly 953 days after he donned the Green Jacket at Augusta National, Willett secured his first victory in the season-ending Rolex Series event.
But a return to the promised land has been a long and winding road for Willett, which began following the conclusion of his most memorable campaign…
Willett openly admitted he did not want to play at the end of 2016. Mentally, he was exhausted, and he believed he was not able to compete at the standard he had set during his ground-breaking year.
Yet, the determined Yorkshireman has never backed down from a challenge, and for a successive season he finished in second place in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
However, unlike other sports, golf does not enjoy the typical ‘off-season’. With worldwide events played all year round in every continent, it never stops and the extended downtime, which Willett needed most at the conclusion of the 2016 campaign, was put to one side.
Ten days with the family was all he had before he flew to Hong Kong for his first appearance of the 2017 season, where a sixth-place finish gave him hope for the new year.
The festive period passed and the hope from Hong Kong was quickly extinguished in the Abu Dhabi desert, finishing 121st in a 126-man field.
“That just shows the difference between practice and playing,” he said, following his first missed cut of the season. “I was slightly shocked at how I played. I would have expected more because of the amount of good work I’ve put in.”
The good work nearly turned into success three weeks later when he held a three-shot lead going into the final round of the Maybank Championship.
But golf has a tendency to snatch away victory at the last hurdle and a final round of 73 – ten shots worse off to Fabrizio Zanotti’s final round score – saw glory slip away, as the Paraguayan sealed a four-shot triumph with an eagle on the 72nd hole.
The following two months of his 2017 season were dominated by just one focus: the defence of his Masters Tournament title.
Tied 19th after the opening round, the defending champion sat alongside fellow past winner Fred Couples and five others on one over par. A solid start to his defence.
But when you open your second round with a quadruple-bogey eight you sense that perhaps the golfing gods are against you and it is not going to be your day, week, or even year, in Willett’s case.
But, much like 12 months prior, the Masters was a turning point in his career, and the visit to Augusta National came at a pivotal time in what was becoming a difficult campaign.
“The Champions Dinner on the Tuesday night was a real eye opener for me,” he said. “Sitting around a table full of these legends of the game, all telling stories of Arnold Palmer and Augusta, it really inspired me and gave me the boost I needed to look for help. After Augusta, I began opening up to friends and people around me and trying to take a look at what I could do to improve.”
The Yorkshireman knew the changes would take time, but a recurring back injury was hampering his development, forcing him to retire from the U.S. Open and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation in the space of three weeks.
Sam Haywood replaced Jonathan Smart on the bag and arguably the biggest change took place in August when Willett amicably split with coach Pete Cowen and teamed up with Sean Foley.
Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods are just a few players who have been tutored by Foley, and Willett was keen to get the Canadian on board to help him return to the upper echelons of the golfing world.
Being able to compete pain-free has seen Willett reap the rewards in the second half of 2018, especially in Rolex Series events.
He carded four sub-70 rounds at the Italian Open for the first time in a European Tour tournament since 2016 at the same event, where he finished second. It was also a first return to the top ten since he let his three-shot lead slip at the 2017 Maybank Championship.
That result in Italy could have been classed as a ‘one-off’ or an ‘anomaly’ but it proved no fluke when Willett clinched another Rolex Series top ten, sharing sixth place at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Ballyliffin.
The changes he made in 2017 were starting to come to fruition. The old Danny Willett was getting back to his best.
Being able to compete pain-free has seen Willett reap the rewards in the second half of 2018, especially in Rolex Series events.
He carded four sub-70 rounds at the Italian Open for the first time in a European Tour tournament since 2016 at the same event, where he finished second. It was also a first return to the top ten since he let his three-shot lead slip at the 2017 Maybank Championship.
That result in Italy could have been classed as a ‘one-off’ or an ‘anomaly’ but it proved no fluke when Willett clinched another Rolex Series top ten, sharing sixth place at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Ballyliffin.
The changes he made in 2017 were starting to come to fruition. The old Danny Willett was getting back to his best.
I had a few weeks recovering from a few bits and the body is now feeling 100 percent again - Danny Willett
His success in the European Tour’s biggest events continued in Turkey, where rounds of 67-65-69-70 handed him seventh place.
To be able to rise to the occasion against some of the world’s leading players indicated Willett’s progression and improved mental strength.
Ahead of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, Willett was on the cusp of the top 50 in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, and had nothing to fear.
His injuries brought his 2017 season to close in October and he feared the worse; would he get back to the top? Would his game ever be good enough to compete?
But here he was, over a year later, teeing it up alongside the reigning Masters Champion, Patrick Reed, in the final group on the final day in Dubai.
Sport can sometimes hinge on getting the rub of the green, getting the right bounce, being lucky when others are falling away. And Willett’s final round at Jumeriah Golf Estates had a touch of fortune mixed in with the class of a Major winner.
When you hole a 45-foot double-breaker putt for eagle on the second hole to move three shots clear the thoughts would start to set in - ‘could this be my day?’
Birdies on the 14th, 15th and 17th to sit two strokes ahead with one hole to play certainly suggested so.
But golf can be a cruel game and Willett’s 72nd hole could have been so different had his drive resulted in two more bounces to end up in the hazard.
However, fate would have it that Danny would safely reach the green in regulation, and after a two-putt par he became a champion once again.
Now fully fit and back inside the top 100 in the world, the future looks bright for Danny Willett.
