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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONS

November 8, 2015

Danny Willett

Shanghai, China

Q. Nice round to finish up the tournament for you, 10-under 62, nice to start with four birdies?
DANNY WILLETT: I actually hit it close every day on the first four holes and first time I took all the chances. Got off to a quick start and it was nice to not take the foot off the gas and kept pressing. We wanted to try to get a good finish out of this week, and yeah, a little disappointing to finish on the last -- but very good.

Q. Did the cooler weather help you? Did you feel more like you were at home?
DANNY WILLETT: No, it's been hot the last few days. I think with the wind obviously being a little cooler, makes it a little tricky. But I still think the guys are going to out there and shoot some good scores but it's always good to post a number.

Q. Is it a case of what could have been, if you look at Friday's score, you had two double-bogeys that gave you that 74.
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, it would have been good to have it good all week. I had a five-hole blip there where mentally I let myself -- I got down on myself and beat myself up, and threw in a few silly three-whacks and a couple of bad shots. Like you say, in a five or six-hole stretch, I was 5- or 6-over, and yeah, looking back, that's probably what did it. But if I can learn from it and move on, that's good.

Q. Puts you closer to the Rory in The Race to Dubai standings. You must be feeling confident?
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, it would be nice to like I say get a good finish, and I think he's going a few under for the day anyway, as well. Hopefully beat him by a couple.

Q. Is this a very, very special round of golf?
DANNY WILLETT: It's very special. It's special shooting 62 at home with the lads, it's always nice, but in a World Golf Championships on a Sunday when it means something a bit more, obviously it's that little bit more special.

Q. Were you conscious from the early stages that this was going to be a good day?
DANNY WILLETT: No, I slept good and I had a good warmup in the gym but again the range session was all right but nothing sparkling. I've been really struggling with the blade this week. I think today we hit it a little bit closer which obviously instead of having a 12-footer, you've got a 6- , 8-footer. And we seemed to roll a few of them early doors, and then I kept my head a bit higher. I kept letting it get down the last few days when I didn't make a fair few.

Kept rolling from there, really. We had a really good par save on 7; I think kept real good momentum. And then yeah, just really, really, really solid golf. I think missed one or two fairways and one or two greens. When you do that and you put it together with 25 putts, you're going to be somewhere up there.

Q. The at the start of play, you were a long way adrift, when did it occur to you that you were knocking on the door and getting closer and closer?
DANNY WILLETT: We made birdie on 13 and we got to 15. You know, you look at the scores and the guys were already 16, 17 by then but you're like, well, have a good finish, play the last four or five holes in a couple under.

Q. How significant is this in The Race to Dubai?
DANNY WILLETT: It could be big. Especially with Rory not playing next week, we could climb a few more points on him and give us a nice buzz going into the next week into Dubai.

Q. What are your thoughts on the BMW Masters?
DANNY WILLETT: BMW put on a great week every year. Lake Malaren, depends on the weather. I would have thought it would be weather like this, a bit windy, a bit chilly. Depends who brought their game that week and see what the guys do.

Q. And of course you obviously know; you have the experience around it.
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, played it a few times now. Good golf course. Strong golf course. Hit the ball a long way, obviously you've got a typical Chinese kind of -- a lot of the guys, the American designers, very segregated greens. You've got to hit to areas and then hole some nice putts. Not quite the same setup as this week but if you hit the golf shots, you can make a score.

Q. And given the attention that's bound to be on you, has been for weeks now, but knowing that you're knocking on the door and getting closer to Rory, will that affect you and your approach and your determination?
DANNY WILLETT: I've been determined all year, ever since we got to 1 straight off the bat first week out. It was like, it would be good to stay up there all year. After the big win at the Nedbank, kept winning and pressing hard and we were able to post some really good numbers around the world.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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