Willett ready for rest after intense year

Danny Willett has a month-long break until his next competitive golf and he is determined to use it as just that.
Danny WillettDanny Willett
Danny Willett

The Sheffield golfer has had a remarkable 2015 which saw him finish second in the European Tour order of merit.

And he got his 2016 season underway last weekend with a fourth placed finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

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The 28-year-old is now back home and determined not to even look at his golf clubs for the next few weeks as he focuses on pregnant wife Nicole

“They’re in the bag and I don’t think I’ll see them for a couple of weeks,” he said.

“We’ll get back, put our feet up, make sure Nic is alright with the little one coming, look after the dog and do normal things again over the next four weeks.”

His final tournament of the year – and first of the new season – was a more strenuous affair than Willett would have liked.

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A long-standing back problem struck during Friday’s second round, causing him to card a three over par 75.

He recovered remarkably well on the final two days, shooting rounds of 70 and 68 to secure a tie for fourth. And he explained careful management of his game allows him to cope with the back issue.

Willett said: “We came in good form with everything in a nice place but unfortunately the body on Friday kind of gave way.

“It’s a shame because it was bad over the last two days as well but as long as we know about it, we try and change the game plan and do things differently.

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“On Friday we didn’t know about it until it was a little bit too late and we’d dropped a few early on.

“We’ve come here and played nicely, as good as we could have done under the circumstances.”

Willett could return to action back in South Africa at the BMW South Africa Open on January 7 but will definitely be a part of the EurAsia Cup in Malaysia on January 15.