A return to the scene of his greatest triumph is a reminder to Danny Willett of just how fickle golf can be.
Back at Augusta National for the first major of the season, yardages and even wind direction for the shots that took him to a three-stroke victory at the Masters in 2016 are still clear in his mind. So too, though, is what followed.
“The comedown is rubbish,” Willett admits. “It’s a tough one, because it’s very hard to emulate that feeling. There’s only one way to get that high of winning a major back - do it again.”
It was not a thirst that looked like being quenched when Willett fell to 462nd in the world rankings just two years after he donned the Green Jacket.
A globetrotting schedule after his win exacerbated back problems and with that came further injury issues, a loss of confidence and a collapse in form. Should he win a second major, at Augusta or elsewhere, things will be different.
“I’m older and wiser now, the scheduling would change massively,” the 35-year-old says. “We were flying here, there and everywhere to play as much golf as possible. That’s one of the biggest regrets I have, I spread myself too thin. Mentally and physically I was completely burnt out by the end of 2016. Everything piled up on me. It was just unfortunate that it happened after such an amazing high.”
Changes to his team and a reconstructed swing aided Willett’s fitness, allowing the painkillers to be cast aside for good, and his form began to pick up. He returned to the winner’s circle after almost 1,000 days with victory in Dubai at the end of 2018.
The Englishman’s sole PGA Tour win remains the Masters, though he was close, cruelly so, to doubling his stateside tally in September when standing on the 18th tee on Sunday at the Fortinet Championship with a one-shot lead over Max Homa. A wedge shot was clipped to three feet and, with his nearest rival off the green, Willett had one hand on the trophy.
He could not make it two. Homa chipped in, Willett missed both his short birdie attempt and the five-foot par putt that would have forced a play-off. He was still laughing in bemusement as he shook Homa’s hand, and those few minutes are no less bizarre to him even now.
“It hurt,” Willett reflects. “It was just so out of the blue and random. A lot of golf tournaments are anti-climactic. It’s touch-and-go all day, really close, and then you end up two-putting the last and winning. This was very different. Nobody has ever chipped in on me on the 72nd hole.
“What can you do? You scream into a pillow for the next week, but you have to try and take the positives.”
Pillows aside, have the past seven years helped put disappointment into perspective?
“Yeah, as soon as you finish your golf, you’ve just got to try and realise it’s a game,” he says. “A hard game, but a game. You get in the car and leave the course each day, that’s the end of your working day. Leave it that way.”
That working day is this week the envy of not just golf fans but the majority of the field too, as Willett is reunited with his Green Jacket and sets up camp in the Champions Locker Room. The anticipation sets in well before the drive down Magnolia Lane, particularly this year with “momentum in the sails” after a run of solid finishes.
“I get on my flight to Augusta and already have goosebumps,” Willett says. “When I arrive, I want to get my golf shoes on as quickly as possible and get out on the course. You think about it weeks out, we’re all like excited school kids waiting to go on a field trip. It’s an incredibly special place.”
When the past winners congregate on Tuesday night for the Champions Dinner, many expect there to be a side of awkwardness to go with the ribeye steak being served by defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
Six of those attending the dinner are on the LIV Golf tour, with tournament organisers deeming that players competing on the breakaway circuit should be allowed to tee it up at Augusta.
There’s only one way to get that high of winning a major back - do it again
Whether there is a temporary truce this week on the war of words between high-profile figures on both sides of the divide remains to be seen, but Willett, who in recent years has sat next to LIV duo Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed, is not expecting Scheffler’s night to be overshadowed.
“I’m just hoping that everyone can be gentlemanly and get on properly for the night, put any issues to the side,” Willett says. “We’re all there to honour Scottie, that’s how it should be. Regardless of what guys have decided to do with their careers, we’re all still golfers and friends, for the most part.”
Come Thursday, when the formalities have been completed, golf’s most iconic garment hung back up in the locker and the opening drive sent, hopefully, down the first fairway, the quest to relive the ultimate high will be resumed.
