Austin, TX …

Masters Champion Danny Willett ended his run of WGC  Match-Play Championship of outs in defeating Russell Knox and reminding the Scot – “Every blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while”.

Knox was never ahead in the match after losing the first hole to a birdie before being handed a convincing 4 & 2 defeat in the final of the three round robin matches.

The lone Scot in the field needed to defeat Willett, who had been winless in his opening two matches, to have any chance of progressing to the final 16 in the $US 9.75m event.

In the event it was Haas, who Knox had beaten on day one, advancing to the final 16 in defeating South Korean K T Kim with a birdie at the fifth extra hole after both players ended the round robin series with four points apiece

Knox won the second hole with a birdie but Willett then won the sixth and seventh holes to go 2-up before being back to 1-up when Knox birdied the 10th.

But it was as close as Knox then got to Willett with the Englishman winning the 11th and 13th holes to be 3-up, and with the Scot was conceded the 14th Willett claimed his one win in the event with birdies at 15 and 16.

“It was a tough match and Russell’s a tough opponent but in fairness, my game was slightly better this week than it’s been,” said Willett

“In fairness, the game was more slightly better this week. Obviously two losses and a win now. But there are positives that we’re taking from it.

“We’ve got a week off now to work on the little things that we need to get ready for, driving being one of the main things. We haven’t driven the ball well for a couple of months now, so trying to work on that with the guys at Callaway to get it set up a little bit better on the driver, and see if we can get that little bullet fade, that’s obviously helped us do so well over the last couple of years.

“A little bit of work there, but it’s always nice to finish on a slightly positive note”.

Of course, Willett’s next event is his defence of the Masters starting at Augusta National on 6th April.

“It’s going to be awesome. If you take it as anything else, as added pressure, I don’t. I think me playing poorly over the last few months has actually helped in the fact that nobody is really looking at what we’re doing,” he said.

“The guys at the top of the World Rankings are playing some good golf. And understandably we’ve played some poor golf. We’re going out there defending. I just want to get the game in shape, so I can get there and actually enjoy it. Enjoy what is, what is a fantastic achievement and what’s going to be a fantastic week.

“We’re going to get there Saturday and go play a few holes there prior. And then obviously we’ve got a busy week, we’re hosting the dinner on Tuesday, and another part on the Wednesday, and other bits through the week.

“And I think if you can’t learn to enjoy defending a major, especially the Masters, then I don’t really get why you’re playing the game.”