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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2017

Danny Willett

Surrey, England

Q. Your thoughts on the start of the Rolex Series this week?
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, it's good. Obviously the tour have just tried to shake things up a little about this year. Obviously with the GolfSixes, seemed to get on pretty well and obviously trying to incorporate now the Rolex Series, obviously bigger prize funds, trying to get better fields. The guys are playing smaller schedules, obviously both in America and in Europe, can ideally have a worldwide schedule that's first-class.

Like you say, this is the first one of the seven and hopefully I'm pretty sure this one will good down pretty well. It's always a great week.

Q. First memory of watching it on TV as a kid?
DANNY WILLETT: Wentworth would have been the Match Play. Obviously I wasn't around playing on Tour when the Match Play had finished around Wentworth and stuff, but I remember watching a few of them famous matches.

Then yeah, first time I got to play here, they had just changed it. So I never actually got to play the old, old golf course which is a shame. Yeah, got a few memories from this golf course and obviously I've played it for the last five or six years and have some pretty good memories around here myself.

Q. Your thoughts on the changes?
DANNY WILLETT: They have been pretty good from what we've seen so far. Obviously there was always a few questions about the greens but you've got Britain in May.

Again a lot of that depends on the weather, but now they have got rid of -- I think a few grasses started to grow through over the last few years and making it a bit weavy towards the end of the day and they got rid of them. And they have obviously put the SubAir in, which means they can control the green firmness through the weeks if there is rain or weather dependent.

I think they have done a good job in shallowing some of the bunkers out that probably needed shallowing. And then obviously changing some of the rough around the greens, some of the bunkering around the greens, as well. I would have thought the scoring would be slightly lower to what we've seen in previous years with a few of those things, and we'll just have to wait to see through the week.

Q. Do you feel the changes reflect the quality of the field this week?
DANNY WILLETT: I think like you say, I think there's a few guys in the past who don't play for their own reasons; if they have played it for ten or 15 years and don't quite get on with the golf course, I think that sometimes that puts people off playing a golf tournament and I think with the changes, the guys have said, look, they tried to put a lot of money into the golf club and stuff, and obviously for the changes and people want to come and see what it's like and see if it's one tournament they are going to put back on their schedule.

In an ideal world, they will, because it is our Flagship Event down here at Wentworth. Like I said, with the enhanced prize funds now, it's one that the guys really shouldn't miss.

Q. Glad to be back home after your adventure in America?
DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, it's always nice to be back. It's one of them, you come here, you come to golf courses that you know, and obviously you have got the exemptions in America and stuff.

But you're still playing golf courses this year that I've never played before. You're feeling a bit like a rookie in the fact that you've got to get used to golf courses, and you're playing against guys that have been playing the golf courses for the last five or ten years. It's always nice to come back and play golf courses you know, and to be able to come back to Wentworth where like I said, I've had a few good results around is always nice, and the weather looks really good this week, as well.

Q. What was it like to put the green jacket on Sergio?
DANNY WILLETT: It was good. I think a lot of people could see that it was moving, wasn't it. It was either Justin or it was Sergio, and Justin, he's already had his major, he's got his Gold Medal and I think it was a great one for Sergio to win. It was a great battle down the stretch.

It's what the guys wanted to see on television, and we were all watching in the clubhouse, just waiting to see what was going on. Yeah, just fantastic scenes to be able to see him and his family in Butler Cabin, and how I imagine that would have looked the year before when obviously I was there. When it happens to yourself, you don't really remember it. It kind of happens a bit quick and it's all a bit of a blur.

To actually see the joy that that can give, not only to one person but to an entire family, it was beautiful to be there and to obviously share that little moment, and then yeah, I knew what was coming for him the next few weeks.

I spoke to him last week and he said he had four weeks off, and he laughed; obviously four weeks off, he's been very, very busy, him and Angela obviously travelling the world and doing everything that you should do with your first major.

So yeah, I think it sunk in and I think hopefully we see him back in Europe at some point soon.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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