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Danny Willett's Career Highlights
2 min read
In 2004, Danny Willett signed with FirstPointUSA and a year later he left behind his life in Sheffield in order to attend Jacksonville State University, a public university in Alabama, where he had secured a golf scholarship. Here, he claims, would be were he would truly learn how to practice properly – managing his schoolwork with gym visits and daily trips to the golf course. The two seasons he would complete at Jacksonville would only be the start of a meteoric rise to fame, which would see him win the 2016 Masters championship, just eight short years after turning professional.
In 2008, Danny Willett was rated the number one amateur in the golfing world – something that had already been done by record breaker Rory McIlroy, and that would be done four years later by fellow Masters champion Jordan Spieth. He then went on to become professional later that same year, earning his European Tour membership after completing qualifying school. His first major competition took the form of the 2010 BMW PGA Championship, where he eventually came fifth – winning a prize of 190,800 euro.
Despite this, it wasn’t until June of 2012 when Willett would secure his first win on the European Tour, defeating Marcus Fraser at the BMW International Open in Cologne. This marked the beginning of a string of tournament triumphs; with a third place finish at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play, and a win at the Omega European Masters in the same year.
However, his ultimate success would come during the 2016 Masters Tournament, where he expertly took advantage of defending champion Jordan Spieth’s collapse in the final round – one of the biggest in Masters history – which saw Willett crowned the 2016 winner. He was the first British player to win the Masters in 20 years, something that was not lost on the 28 year old, saying: “It was a very surreal day.”