Golf: I don't really want to be out there, sayss Danny Willett as poor form continues

Masters champion Danny Willett has admitted that he doesn't feel like playing, as the Sheffield golfer's poor run of form continued at the Turkish Airlines Open.
Danny WillettDanny Willett
Danny Willett

Willett, who needed to finish fifth or better to reclaim top spot in the Race to Dubai from Henrik Stenson, could only finish joint 68th in the 78-man field.

A frustrated Willett carded a closing 75 and briefly considered withdrawing from the upcoming Nedbank Golf Challenge after only reducing his deficit to Stenson from 261,387 to 252,163 points.

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“It just comes and goes, a couple of good days and a couple of bad days,” Willett said. “To be honest I don’t really want to be out there playing golf.

“It could not have happened at a worse time. Things are just not going my way, nothing feels that great.”

Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen set his sights on major glory after threatening to set an unwanted record before eventually holding his nerve to take victory.

No player has ever squandered a seven-shot lead after 54 holes on the European Tour but that looked a distinct possibility when Olesen’s commanding overnight advantage was reduced to a single shot by England’s David Horsey.

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However, Olesen responded with vital birdies on the 12th, 14th and 15th on his way to a closing 69 to finish 20 under par and claim the first prize of just over one million euros.

Horsey and China’s Li Haotong shared second on 17 under after matching rounds of 65, with Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger two shots further back.

Olesen said: “I knew on this course you can really shoot a low score if you get it going and some of the guys did that on the front nine.

“It got really close and put a lot of pressure on me but I felt I was very patient, mentally I was strong in the middle of the round.”