Danny Willet Welcomes Son into the World then Wins The Masters
Sunday 10th April 2016 marked the day that 28 year old Danny Willet shot a flawless 67 to become the first Englishman in 20 years to win the Green Jacket.
Photo credit: Isogood_patrick/Shutterstock
Born in Sheffield, Willet played at his local golf course up until the age of 16 when he quit college to attend Jacksonville State in Alabama for two years.
Despite leaving America without a degree, he did gain the title 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and won medallist honours in 2007.
He went on to win the English Amateur Championship on his return to England in the later part of 2007 and finally turned pro in 2008 after rising to number one in the world amateur rankings.
Just eight years on, Danny Willet has won The Masters 2016 - beating the likes of Speith (almost a dead cert to win up until the last 3 holes) and Rory McIlroy.
Near Miss
Willet’s wife Nicole was due to give birth to their first son on the very last day of the Masters; Danny had previously said he would not be going to the masters unless his baby boy was born early.
“If he fancies coming out early on, it would be great, but if not, I won't be playing."
Fortunately for Willet and family, baby Zachariah was born on Tuesday March 29th and Willet flew out to the US Monday April 4th in preparation for the start of the big tournament on Thursday April 7th.
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Image credit: www.twitter.com/danny_willett[/caption]
Image credit: www.twitter.com/danny_willett[/caption]
Winner!
Jordan Spieth - defending champion - looked a dead cert to retain the Green Jacket at 5pm on the Sunday afternoon, having reached seven under and holding a five-stroke lead.
However, his game took an unexpected turn for the worst when he bogeyed the 10th, dropped a shot on the 11th and subsequently suffered the first quadruple birdie of his career; he ended up in tied second place after his inexplicable melt down, and had to present an ecstatic Danny Willet with the Green Jacket.
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Image credit: www.twitter.com/danny_willett[/caption]
Proud Brother
Willet’s brother, Peter, took to Twitter to provide a rather humorous running commentary of his brother’s progress. He also voiced his extreme pride, tweeting:
‘Unbelievable, Jeff. I'm not keeping it together. COOOOOMEEEEE ONNNNNN X#TheMasters #bbcgolf’
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Image credit: www.twitter.com/p_j_willett[/caption]
Image credit: www.twitter.com/p_j_willett[/caption]
Well if our brother had just won $1,800,000 we’d be proud, too…