Willett, however, was relentless down the stretch. He coolly navigated the difficult 11th and 12th holes for par, hit splendid iron shots and clutch putts to make birdies at the 13th and 14th holes, and another at the par-3 16th, where his tee shot finished seven feet directly beneath the hole. He parred in from 16.
“Danny played really well,” said Westwood of his playing partner. “He controlled his nerves. He hit very few poor shots. I guess he hit it pretty much the way he wanted to all day.”
Willett’s performance at the Masters did not come without warning. He tied for third in both World Golf Championship stroke-play events this year, the HSBC and the Cadillac Championship. At Augusta National, he added a victory for three top-three finishes in five starts on the PGA Tour.
Willett won the English Amateur Championship in 2007 and was on the 2007 Walker Cup team. A year later, he was the No. 1-ranked amateur golfer in the world. Willett played two years of college golf at Jacksonville State.
Willett’s father, Steve, is a vicar and his mother, Elisabet, is a maths teacher. He turned professional in 2008 and has been steadily on the rise since, winning four times on the European Tour since the BMW Championship in 2012.
Willett was ranked No. 12 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the start of the Masters. His best previous finish in a major was a tie for sixth last year at the Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews.
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