DANNY WILLETT

2016 DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC CHAMPION

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Danny Willett is one of a select few players to have won two European Tour events in Dubai on two different courses. He fi rst won the Dubai Desert Classic in 2016 at Emirates Golf Club and went on to win the Masters Tournament at Augusta National the same year. At the end of 2018 he tamed the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates to win the highly-prized DP World Tour Championship.

Winning a Major for the fi rst time has created a curse for many great players, in having climbed that emotional mountain they struggle to fi nd their mojo again. It appeared after adding the green jacket to his wardrobe the ever-confi dent Willett was battling to get back in the groove. In 2018, Danny was suffering from a few injury niggles and only placed inside the top 10 on three occasions from 21 starts. But that was all about to change at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, when he shot four sub-70 rounds, to win the European Tour’s fl agship event by two shots from Patrick Reed and Matthew Wallace. The win was a huge boost both for this confi dence and his bank balance after collecting the $1.3 million fi rst prize. Since then, he has gone on to prove you can never write him off, even when the form book doesn’t predict a top ten fi nish for the former world amateur number one, he manages to silence the golfi ng critics. In 2019 he carded another four rounds in the 60s to win the historic BMW Championship by three shots from Jon Rahm. So, as we focus on this year’s DP World Tour Championship, would you bet against him? Probably not, as he lifted more silverware at last month’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at St. Andrews and guess what? Once again he carded four sub-70 rounds to hold off Tyrrell Hatton and Joakim Lagergren. Worldwide Golf met with Danny fresh from his recent holiday to discuss why he plays so well in Dubai and the disappointment of missing out on making The Ryder Cup team.

2019 BMW PGA CHAMPION

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2021 ALFRED DUNHIILL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER

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QUICK BREW QUESTIONS Hardest golf hole in Dubai you have played? Fourth on the Earth course Best restaurant in Dubai? Indigo Last car you bought? Porsche GT3 Last fi lm you watched? Moneyball

Best Liverpool football player, ever? Fowler Score the winner in a Champions League fi nal for Liverpool or win the Open Championship? Open Championship Last time you mowed a lawn? A long time ago!

I’m not sure what it is about those courses, as they’re both so very different. I’m a big believer that people play well when they’re having a good week off the course and Dubai has been a great place for me and the family to take a break. This has certainly helped me play well. I like the two courses and they set up nicely for my game but all-in-all I’ve enjoyed great weeks both on and off the course.

The win at the DP World Championship was huge in terms of what I’d gone through since Augusta. It was great to win against such a strong fi eld and in the manner in which I performed down the stretch. It really did my confi dence the world of good and it came just at the right time.

The Majlis has many more doglegs and tricky challenges visually off the tee, and smaller greens, though I know they have made a few changes this year. The Earth course is much more straight in front of you from the tee with big sloping greens.

I enjoy coming to play a few events out here but with a young family being based in the UK and America it’s much easier in terms of travelling to events, plus the fact that it’s where all my friends and family are.

I’ve been with Callaway for eight years now and I believe I have built a great relationship with them. I don’t like to mess around too much with equipment once I’m happy with it. For me, it’s all about performance and ability to shot shape, so I’d rather spend my time working on my skills rather than trying loads of new things.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought one. It was probably a long time ago. My Odyssey 1 Wide that I won Augusta with will stay with me forever.

I didn’t like being sat at home watching Europe get beat. The USA had a great team and will continue to have great teams for a while, so it was good motivation to be back on the team in Italy.

I’m not sure my mindset ever changes. I just know that when I’m practicing and playing well I can win anywhere and against anyone. I’ve been very fortunate to win such great events.

I think that growing up in Yorkshire I was lucky to have so many great players around me to play against and great coaches nearby. So, I used that as much as I could and worked as hard as I could and eventually it paid off by having a dream come true.

It is still my parents. My mum and dad worked incredibly hard for many years raising four boys, with both working full time, while managing to fi nd the time to drive us to football and golf at the weekends. They remortgaged our house to pay for my travel expenses. All of this just out of love, never knowing what I was going to achieve. I think that level of complete selfl essness has really helped me now that I’m a husband and a father. It has also helped me to keep a huge perspective on it all.

I never got to play with Seve but to see him work the golf ball and to see his short game up close would have been something special.

I’m not really sure these days. The game is hard and, unfortunately, it takes time to play some of the diffi cult courses, some more so than others. Referees on every hole would help massively, but then it’s 18 refs at every venue which is madness.

It’s not an issue. If you have the ability to hit it far then that is one of your strengths. It’s like saying that someone with a good short game needs penalising by having a max loft on a wedge or something. I think it’s impressive to see what the human body can do. ■