TPC Boston, MA … Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke surely must be paying extra special attention to three England-born members of his 2016 European Team competing this week in Switzerland.
Masters champion Danny Willett surely delighted Clarke with a five under par 65 in the defence of his Omega European Masters title.
However, the form of Willett’s Hazeltine team-mates in Matt Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan surely has to be a concern for Clarke.
Fitzpatrick and Sullivan, who each missed the cut a week ago in Denmark, again struggled and this time with Swiss rounds of 75 and 74 respectively.
A timely reminder of Danny Willett’s talent – shooting a 65 on the opening day of the Omega European Masters. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
Since winning at Augusta National, Willett has missed the cut in three of his nine events and recording a sole top-20 finish in the BMW PGA Championship after sharing the halfway lead.
And we know the new father also snapped the putter he used to win the Masters during a frustrating US Open while Willett was well back in 53rd place at The Open and even further back in 79th place at the PGA Championship along with a distant 37th in the Rio Olympics.
However, the world number 11 is a big fan of this week’s venue in the Swiss mountains, where he carded a brilliant closing 65 to finish a shot ahead of Fitzpatrick last year.
The only blemish on Willett’s scorecard came when he duffed his approach to the fifth.
Four birdies and the closing eagle after a brilliant approach to the par-five ninth though took him alongside Andrew Johnston, Richard Green, Marcus Fraser, JB Hansen, Julien Quesne, Scott Hend, Li Haotong and James Morrison on five under.”
“It was an early start and then I had a terrible warm-up this morning, which wasn’t the best after I’ve had two weeks off trying to work on the game,” said Willett. “I wasn’t quite expecting a 65.
“Luckily it’s one of those places where if you get it in position off the tee, you give yourself a few chances.
“I got the ball in play the first few holes and then felt a little bit better after six, seven holes, hit a few good golf shots and my eye fits quite nicely to this place for some reason.”
Willett revealed he had taken the advice of his caddie to play more ‘competitive rounds’ in practice rather than hitting balls on the range, adding: “We played four or five rounds, keeping a card and trying to get back to scoring regardless of how you are swinging it.
“It kind of helped. You get days like today where you warm up badly but because I played enough rounds at home and knew the game was there or thereabouts and that probably really helped.”
