Turkish Open: No more great falls for '˜Humpty Dumpty' Danny Willett

Danny Willett no longer needs all the king's horses and all the king's men to put him back together again at the end of each day '“ and the results are showing.
Danny WillettDanny Willett
Danny Willett

The Sheffield golfer declared himself to have been golf's very own Humpty Dumpty over the last few years, such was the work needed to be done on his body to prepare him for each day on the course.

But after firing himself firmly into contention at the Turkish Open, Willett says his body is in the best condition it has been for at least five years.

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The 30-year-old carded a six under par 65 in Antalya to move to -10 for the tournament, two shots behind leader Justin Rose heading into the third round.

Willett admitted that his last visit to the tournament came at a time when he was close to walking away from the sport but is delighted to be back on form.

'When I came here two years ago I'm not sure exactly how interested in playing golf I was,' he said.

'It's nice that we're back and I'd say rejuvenated but the body is in the best place it's been for five or six years now.

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'And the golf game is going along with that and following that trend.

'Me and Foles [coach Sean Foley] have done a lot of work on the swing and me and Kev [Duffy, fitness trainer] have done a lot of work with the body.

'It's nice that it's all coming together well and it's a nice time of year to be playing some good golf.'

Though he puts a tremendous amount of credit to the team behind him for helping rebuild his body and game, the former Masters champion admits he is once again enjoying being out on the course without their guiding hands.

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He said: 'We had a slow third section to the year where we were struggling to match up the moves and the shots and we weren't quite seeing it properly.

'We've done a lot of good work at home and played a lot over the last six weeks all around the world.

'It's been good to get out there on my own, not always have someone's eye watching you and actually figure a few things out yourself.

'You're still sticking to the same blueprint but you figure out a few shot shapes that you prefer and take it from there.

'There's some good stuff at the moment.'