Even elite golfers have periods when things look bleak, but 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett is on the way back, writes GARY LEMKE.
Golf. Bloody hell, hey. That might not be entirely original – Sir Alex Ferguson famously coined the football reference after watching his Manchester United side come from 1-0 down to score twice in injury time and win the 1999 Champions League final 2-1 against Bayern Munich – but it’s something Danny Willett would agree with.
In fact, after winning the 2016 Masters, which lifted him to a career-high No 9 in the world, Willett met up with Sir Alex at the Augusta closing party. ‘Fergie had a brilliant piece of advice for me,’ Willett recalled. ‘He said, “When I was at United, we never looked back on what we had achieved. We always looked forward. As soon as we win a trophy, it is forgotten. The next morning we wake up and try to work hard to win the next trophy.”
‘For him to say that puts things back in perspective from a true winner’s point of view. It gave me an insight into what true champions would think. They don’t rest on their laurels. They are back in the gym working hard or on the range practising, trying to make sure that when they next come out they will be competing. The way I see it, I’m world No 9 so there’s eight more steps to go. I have self-belief, I work incredibly hard and my ambition in my own mind has always been to be world No 1.’
That was then, this is now. In three short years the 32-year-old has been to the gates of golfing hell and he’s now on the way back. Not all golfers are that lucky.
Ian Baker-Finch won the 1991 Open Championship at 29 and rose to No 10 in the world. That was as good as it got for him. By the age of 35 the Australian had retired from the sport as a player.
‘I lost my confidence. I got to the point where I didn’t even want to be out on the golf course because I was playing so poorly. I would try my hardest but when I came out to play, I managed to find a way to miss the cut time and time again. It became a habit,’ he said years later.
New Zealander Michael Campbell beat Tiger Woods to win the 2005 US Open and he too looked destined for the big time but reached a career high of No 12. Now 50, he is still playing, but languishes at 2 073rd in the World Ranking.
‘It’s like scaling Mt Everest,’ he said of winning a Major. ‘Nobody ever tells you how to get down.’
Willett simply went into freefall on the other side of golf’s Everest two years after Jordan Spieth had slipped the Green Jacket over his shoulders at Augusta. He went MC, MC, MC, T29th (Tshwane Open), WD, MC, MC, MC, MC, T8th (Italian Open), MC and MC at 12 successive events in 2018 which saw him drop to 262nd in the World Ranking.
One almost fails to recall that he was the 2014 Nedbank Golf Challenge champion and at last year’s NGC at Sun City, he hardly attracted an audience as he went around the Gary Player Country Club in rounds of 78, 71, 72 and 71 to finish four over par and in a tie for 50th in a field of 72. That left him 276th in the world. The following week he won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, beating Patrick Reed, Matt Wallace and Jon Rahm. Some 953 days after his previous win and with no form to suggest there was going to be any upturn soon, seven days after Sun City, he was a champion again.
‘Yeah, there were periods I wasn’t sure I was ever going to do this again, or even if I really wanted to play golf, so this is pretty special,’ he said after receiving his cheque. ‘Obviously Augusta is always going to be special to me, but this, coming back after everything that’s happened, is going to go down in my history books as one of the most pleasing.’
Shoulder and back injuries had forced him to remodel his swing and change coaches and strength conditioners, and
he slipped into ‘a dark place’.
‘It’s been tough,’ the Englishman admitted. ‘I’m just massively proud of myself and everyone who has been around me. You never quite know when a win is around the corner and with all the things that have happened, I was never quite sure if it was going to happen again.
‘We’ve battled long and hard through this season to come out a better person and a better athlete at the end, regardless of what happened today. It’s a special place. It’s been a hell of a lot of work and it’s just nice to be back.’
They say one brings two and in September this year the man from Yorkshire picked up another big payday, firing a final-round 67 to see off Rahm at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, with the hugely impressive South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout third and Reed fourth.
‘I wouldn’t say I’m back to my best. We’re still working on the moves and there are still shots in there I don’t like. But the body is night and day to where it was, the ability to travel around the world and play golf is back and I’m in a much better place with everything. It’s enjoyable to be playing and feeling good about yourself in front of the crowds. I am confident about giving them what they paid for now,’ said Willett.
‘This is my first win as a pro on home soil and it doesn’t get much better. People ask if I can get back to where I was when I was Masters champion and ninth in the world, but I think I’ll be able to be a better version. My abilities and knowledge of the game are at a different level to where they were before. When the golf was really bad, I didn’t fancy playing, so to be able to come down the stretch today and enjoy it was
a beautiful thing.’
However, to look forward you have to look back. Once you have scaled Everest and fallen down the other side, you have to dust yourself off and internalise whether or not you have what it takes to reach the summit again.
‘I’d find myself watching YouTube videos when times were tough,’ he said. ‘The number of times I’ve watched clips of my final round at Augusta is ridiculous. You’re trying to smile and put on a brave face, but the truth is I wasn’t enjoying it and I wasn’t playing well. It was embarrassing – people would come and pay money for a ticket, and they want to see good golf and I wasn’t playing any. They didn’t want to see someone walking around who has a pretty nice life but looked as grumpy as sin.’
Of his back problems, Willett said: ‘When I swing good, I feel good, mentally and physically. It’s not breaking news that I’ve had back issues. The truth is that when I was swinging badly, I was putting strain on my back and it became an issue. It ended up taking over my game as I’d be taking painkillers in the morning after waking up in pain, getting an hour of physio before each round, playing the round with a swing that hurt, then needing an hour of physio after the round. I was just knackered.’
Now the sun is shining again. There’s a spring in Willett’s step that wasn’t there a year ago when he missed the cut at the same BMW PGA Championship he won in 2019. ‘When I was here last year, I could barely walk because I’d just had a vasectomy,’ he smiled.
Sunshine and smiles. That’s how you’d imagine the life of a successful professional golfer to be. Especially one whose seven professional titles include The Masters and career earnings that mean he would never have to earn another dollar in his life again if he were to pack all his golf clubs away in one of his garages right now.
Yes, Willett is one of the lucky ones. He’s managed to deal with the demons, come out of the dark and step into the light again. He’s back up to No 29 in the world and if that’s as good as it’s going to get, it’s not too bad, is it?
