St. Andrews, Scotland …
Danny Willett has returned to the European Tour for this week’s tournament at the Home of Golf still bitterly disappointed at the personal nature of the heckling he endured at Hazeltine.
The Masters Champion is among six European Ryder Cup stars competing in Thursday’s starting Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
Willett currently leads the Tour’s Race to Dubai money list with six events remaining but it was events last week in suburban Minneapolis still clearly on the Englishman’s mind and revealing the nature of the abuse he received during the course of the three days of competition.
“You’ve got 150 to 200,000 fans there that love watching golf but unfortunately you’ve got the odd one or two that don’t actually go there to watch golf, which is a shame,” he said while practicing today on the Old Course at St. Andrews and one of three host venues this week.
Danny Willett returns to European complaining of the nature of the ‘personal’ attack on his parents and wife at last week’s Ryder Cup.
“But I don’t think that’s ever going to stop. We got a taste of it last week, being in America with the fans and how they push on to help their team win.
“People realise what was said was reflecting on a massively tiny proportion of people that went there. That’s just how it is, unfortunately.
“When you’re walking round a golf event week to week, everyone’s fantastic. You pitch up and play a normal golf event anywhere in the world and the fans are great.
“But I don’t think you should be walking round while people are saying things to your parents and saying things to your wife. I don’t think that’s our sport, that’s not what Europe play for, that’s now what we do.
“Unfortunately that happened and unfortunately it put a bit of a downer on what was supposed to be my first good experience of the Ryder Cup.”
However Willett has somewhat apologised for his post-closing ceremony comment when asked in the Media Centre how he could sum up the experience of his first European Team cap.
Willett simply stated: “S***” But then asked he could elaborate the Englishman said: “Really s***”
Now the highest world-ranked played in this week’s $US 5m has toned down those remarks.
“It’s difficult when you have a press conference straight afterwards as the emotion is running high,” he said.
“It has sunk in a bit more now”.
In contrast to Willett’s revelation, European team-mate Matthew Fitzgerald said he had no problems with the ‘heckling’ he had to endure from the US crowd.
“It was getting flack about being young, looking you and the youngest out there in the Ryder Cup,” he said smiling.
“It was all in jest and I knew that, so I could accept that but then it will be interesting to go back to the States in four years, if I make the side, and see what they say to me then.
“But for now I just want to play well from now to the end of the season. I’m not setting myself any targets but then you always want to win, so that’s sort of my goal, so I am just purely going to try and play as hard as I can and work as hard as I can until the Race to Dubai.”
Next week, Fitzpatrick will celebrate 12 months on since capturing his first Tour title, the British Masters, and a victory that led to him representing Europe.
