ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND | Danny Willett, who finished two ahead of Joakim Lagergren and Tyrrell Hatton to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday, gave the broadest of smiles when he was asked how the Danny Willett of today differed from the one who was such an ebullient winner of the 2016 Masters. “I’m more mature,” he chuckled.
He was in fact celebrating his 34th birthday and as you would expect, he could think of no finer present than to have won at the Home of Golf, venue of next year’s Open Championship. In 2015, he was playing the Open alongside Zach Johnson as the American won and Willett finished as well-placed as in a share of sixth place and, for sure, nothing fazed him about the links and its treacherous winds Sunday afternoon. He was playing out of rough as often as many another into the wind coming home but, having picked up four shots in his first 10 holes, he did what he needed to do in sticking rigidly to par over the last eight.
If not quite as emotional as he was at Augusta in ’16, he struggled to keep the tears at bay as finishing what had been a tough couple of years with a big win.
“First there was COVID-19, which was the same for everyone, and then I had my appendix out,” he said. “Both knocked me back a bit but, out of the blue, my inner belief and the practice I was doing at home did their stuff.”
His aim now is to be in contention on a more regular basis and to play in what would only be his second Ryder Cup, the first being in ’16. “When I watched it last week,” he said, “it was the first time I felt bitterly disappointed at not being there. I hadn’t been playing well enough to get in the team but I’d love to make it next time around.”
“First there was COVID-19, which was the same for everyone, and then I had my appendix out. Both knocked me back a bit but, out of the blue, my inner belief and the practice I was doing at home did their stuff.”
Danny Willett
Daniel Gavins, who came out of nowhere to win the ISPS Handa World Invitational earlier this year, caught the eye again yesterday as he finished sixth behind Shane Lowry and Richard Bland, who tied for fourth. On Saturday, he suffered a truly spectacular tumble down the leaderboard with a bogey-double bogey-double bogey finish at Kingsbarns, only to come back to life with an eagle and three birdies from the fifth on the Old Course. Tommy Fleetwood, who finished one to his rear, was able to shed some light on this interesting newcomer.
The two of them, both from the north of England, had played on the junior scene before going their separate golfing ways. Then, at this year’s Italian Open, they suddenly found themselves teeing up together for a practice round. “When we were on the first tee,” said Fleetwood, “Daniel sprang a surprise by showing me a picture of us playing together as 8-year-olds.”
Sir Michael Bonallack, the former Amateur champion and secretary of the R&A, retired from playing in the Dunhill some years ago. Yesterday, though, there was the lovely sight of four of Sir Michael’s great-grandchildren lined up along the wall in front of the R&A as their father, a 4-handicap amateur by name of Oliver Baker, teed off at the first in the company of Ireland’s John Murphy and Willett and Jimmy Dunne.
Meanwhile, if you would like to know the make-up of a Dunhill crowd and how it has changed across the years, the answer is that the event is attended by more dogs than ever before. Roger Kelly, from Dunhill, explained that the main question on the tournament’s help line used to be all about ticket availability.
“Today,” he said, “we get hundreds and hundreds of calls asking, ‘Can we bring our dog?’ ”
Lewine Mair