Danny Willett

In February 2015, Willett started experiencing back pain. He had it for most of 2013, but it went away. When things were looking up for him, he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the end of 2014 and reached the top 50 to receive a Masters's invitation, but the back started acting up again at the Malaysian Open. He withdrew, worried he couldn't play at his first Masters. Over time, he has learned how to manage his recurring back issues. Was able to play the 2015 Masters and finished T-38th. But a year later, another problem came up when Willett and his wife, Nicole, were to have a child that was due to arrive on April 10, the date of the final round of the Masters. For a while, there was a thought that something could keep him from playing at the Masters. Modern medicine marched in to save the day as Nicole was going in a week before the Masters for a scheduled C-section. Zachariah James Willett was born on March 30, giving dad enough time to settle his wife and son into their English home before he flew to Augusta for the Masters. Twelve days later, Willett received another gift when Jordan Spieth squandered a five-stroke lead with nine holes to play. History will record that Willett shot a bogey-free 67, only the sixth time in Masters history that a winner fired a bogey-free final round. Over the course of the week, he had just one three-putt en route to becoming the first Englishman to win the Masters in 20 years (the last was Nick Faldo in 1996).
Willett was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, and is the son of a preacher and mathematics teacher. In 2007, he won the English Amateur Championship and Yorkshire Amateur and competed at the 2007 Walker Cup Match at Royal County Down. In March 2008, he became the world's No. 1-ranked amateur.
Willett played two seasons for Jacksonville State University in the U.S. During his time at JSU, he was the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and won medalist honors at the 2007 OVC Championship. He was a first-team All-OVC performer and a member of the OVC's All-Tournament Team both seasons. He went back to Europe and was the leading amateur after finishing T-10th at the Open de Espana at the Real Club de Golf de Sevilla in May 2008. Willett turned professional afterward and earned his European Tour card for the 2009 season through qualifying school. Following a successful 2009, when he finished 58th in the inaugural Race to Dubai with eight top-10s, Willett challenged at the 2010 BMW PGA Championship, taking the first-round lead before falling off the pace and finishing 5th, winning Euro$190,800. Following this performance, he moved into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. He finished the 2010 season ranked 23rd on the Order of Merit. He made his breakthrough in 2012, winning the BMW International Open after defeating Marcus Fraser in a playoff. He proposed to his girlfriend a couple of weeks later. In September, he finished T-2nd at the Omega European Masters en route to taking 23rd place in the Race to Dubai, matching his best finish. It was the perfect way to put a frustrating 2011 behind him when he finished 91st in the Race to Dubai.
2013 Notes: He played 22 events, with four top-10s. His best finish was T-3rd at the ISPS Handa Perth International. He ranked 62nd in the Race to Dubai.
2014 Notes: He followed up with a hugely consistent season, in which he recorded seven top-10 finishes en route to a 25th-place ranking in the Race to Dubai. His best finishes were T-3rd at the Irish Open, T-4th at the Turkish Airlines Open, and T-5th at the Omega European Masters and Maybank Malaysian Open.
2015 Notes: Willett sealed his second European Tour victory at the first event of the 2015 season, the Nedbank Golf Challenge. An 18-under-par total at Sun City was enough to defeat compatriots Ross Fisher and Luke Donald and collect the biggest paycheck of his career. Followed that successful week with another strong performance in South Africa, this time at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, where he was in contention for back-to-back wins before finishing T-4th. Thanks to these two events that were played in December 2014, he went from 84th in the Official World Golf Ranking to 50th on the last day of the year, right on the button for getting a Masters invitation. After the Masters, he reached the WGC-Cadillac Match Play semifinals, losing to Gary Woodland 3 & 2, then defeated Jim Furyk in the consolation round to finish 3rd. Also notched a T-6th result at the Irish Open. After two rounds in the 60s at the British Open, Willett was among the leaders but shot 72-70 to finish T-6th. The next week in Switzerland, he shot rounds of 65-62-71-65 at the Omega European Masters to win by a stroke over Matthew Fitzpatrick. With a T-3rd at the Italian Open and WGC-HSBC Champions, Willett made a good attempt to catch Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai. At the DP World Tour Championship, McIlroy won 1st place in the Race, while Willett finished T-4th, securing the runner-up spot.
2016 Notes: Won for the fourth time at the Dubai Desert Classic, then finished T-3rd at the WGC-Cadillac. With his first child's birth, a boy, Willett opted against taking Special Temporary Membership to the PGA Tour for the 2015-16 season. He intended to take membership for the 2016-17 season. After Willett won the Masters, he flew home and spent five weeks with his wife and newborn. He came back to play at The Players Championship, where he missed the cut, then finished T-23rd at the Irish Open and 3rd at the BMW PGA Championship. Represented Great Britain when golf returned to the Olympics for the first time at the 2016 Olympic Rio Games and finished T-37th. He did not compete in the playoffs despite finishing 75th in the FedExCup standings. The PGA Championship was his last start on the PGA Tour. He finished the season 93rd in the FedExCup rankings and 49th on the money list. In his first start at the Ryder Cup, he went 0-3 in the European team's 17-11 defeat to the United States at Hazeltine. Playing on the European Tour in the fall, was runner-up at the Italian Open. He finished 2nd in the Race to Dubai in his 21 official starts.
2017 Notes: Got off to a good start with a 6th-place result at the UBS Hong Kong Open. He also finished T-5th at the Maybank Championship. Afterward, he reached the weekend in only eight of his last 18 starts of the year. Finished T-18th at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters, but the year produced problems with a lingering back injury that caused him to withdraw from The Players Championship and the U.S. Open. By the time of the Valderrama Masters, he announced he was taking off the rest of the year to rest a damaged rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He finished 96th in the Race to Dubai, and during his off time, his second child, a boy, was born on December 16th.
2018 Notes: Played 22 events, making 14 cuts with four top-10 finishes. Placed 20th in the Race to Dubai. Willett returned at the Dubai Desert Classic, saying he had overcome his injuries and was pain-free. After a slow start in which he played the weekend only once in his first nine starts, finished T-8th at the Italian Open, T-6th at the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open, and T-7th at the Turkish Airlines Open. Won by two strokes at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, and earned his first victory since the 2016 Masters Tournament, a span of 953 days and 64 starts. Birdied three of his last five holes in the final round to card a four-under 68 for his sixth European Tour victory. With the victory, Willett announced that he would take up PGA Tour status for 2019 and play both tours.
2019 Notes: Played in 19 PGA Tour events, making 12 cuts with two top-10s. Finished 85th in the FedExCup standings. Played in 14 European Tour events, making 11 cuts with three top-10 results. Was 15th in the Race to Dubai. After a slow start to his season, finished T-8th at the RBC Canadian Open, T-12th at the U.S. Open, and T-6th at the British Open, his best finish at a major since winning the 2016 Masters. In the FedExCup playoffs, was T-24th at the Northern Trust. Won the BMW PGA Championship, shooting 67 in the final round to win by three strokes over Jon Rahm. He ended his year with a 5th-place finish at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
2020 Notes: He played in 13 PGA Tour events, making seven cuts and one top-10. He finished 146th in the FedExCup standings. He also played in 12 European Tour events, making seven cuts. He was 98th in the Race to Dubai. He didn't get his first top-15 result until his T-4th finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His next-best finish was T-18th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
2021 Notes: Played in 16 PGA Tour events, making 10 cuts with two top-10s. Finished 152nd in the FedExCup standings. Played in 13 European Tour events, making nine cuts with one top-10 result. He was 27th in the Race to Dubai, and he earned euros932,396. Was 8th in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, four shots back of winner Joel Dahmen. With four rounds in the 60s won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the European Tour by two shots over Joakim Lagergren and Tyrell Hatton. It was Willett's first win since his 2019 BMW PGA Championship title. Ended the season with a T-39th finish at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Willett had a tough health year, in March he tested positive for COVID, and in April had a wisdom tooth removed. At the Memorial, he was in discomfort but still was able to finish the event, finishing T-26th. When he went to the hospital with pain, he found out it was appendicitis and was operated on, it went well, and at the same time, removed a hernia. He didn't return until July finishing T-67th at the Rocket Mortgage.
2022 Notes: He played in 21 PGA Tour events, making 12 cuts with one top-10. He finished 141st in the FedExCup standings. He also played in 10 DP World Tour events, making five cuts with one top-10. He was 138th in the Race to Dubai, earning euros932,396. He was T-12th at the Masters and T-7th at the 3M Open.
2023 Notes: He played in 22 PGA Tour events, making 12 cuts with one top-10. He finished 85th in the FedExCup standings. Willett had one of golf's stunning moments at the season-opening Fortinet Championship. He had a one-shot lead over Max Homa going into the 72nd hole and hit his third shot just a bit over three feet from the hole. Homa missed the green with his third shot, and it looked like a certain victory for Willett. Homa was 32 feet off the green and holed his chip for a birdie, but Willett still was just 3 feet, 7 inches away from a victory. But he hit the putt a bit too hard, it glanced off the left edge of the cup and left him with 4 feet, 8 inches. He missed the putt coming back, three-putting from just over three feet, and found himself in second place. Instead of winning first place and $1.44 million, Willett went home with $872,000, so the three putts could be one of the costlier three putts, costing Willett $568,000. Since then his best finish was T-18th at the Genesis Invitational. Afterward, he struggled with his game and the pain in his shoulder. Willett looked set to challenge for a second BMW PGA Championship title in September when he covered his first 12 holes in six under par, only to aggravate a shoulder tear after hitting his tee shot on the 15th. He played through the pain barrier and completed all 72 holes at Wentworth but underwent surgery the following week and faces a race against time to compete at Augusta, where he won in dramatic style in 2016.
2024 Notes: At the end of February, he told reporters that the surgery was a success and he was able to hit balls again pain-free. He is hoping that the Masters will be his first start from the surgery.