ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 3, 2021

Danny Willett

Press Conference

Q. Amazing what you've done over your career, but it's extraordinary, you start off at the top and have to work your way back?

DANNY WILLETT: I do have a canny way of doing a little roll, yeah. It's been a very unfortunate last eight months, really. Every time the game feels like it's been in a nice place, we've had a couple of things, issues with health, just things that you can't really avoid. COVID, wisdom teeth, appendix, they're not things that -- they are just things, and they seem to have knocked us back a peg or two, and never really been able to get the momentum going in.

This one, for everyone watching, this seems quite out of the blue, but the practice I've been doing at home and the inner belief we have every time we get in and out of position to do something was proven again.

Like I said before, doesn't matter where it is, who it's against, it's just a question if the game is in shape. When it is, we're all right.

Q. Could you have wished for a better birthday present than walking up that last hole with a pretty decent crowd?

DANNY WILLETT: It's a fabulous place. Yeah, to win here, to be British and to be able to win on British soil, to win at the home of golf, this is a very special one. Especially after how the last kind of year and a half has been for everyone involved. Especially for us, we've struggled a little bit with things. And this is -- it's a really nice way to kind of hopefully kick on a little bit for these last couple of months of the season.

Q. Does it give you a spring in your step to come back here next July knowing you have won around this course?

DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, I've played The Open here, I played with Zach, actually, when Zach one, and we finished 6th that year. I like the golf course. I enjoy the setup for the Open. This week, I've not done that great because usually the scoring is low and the weather has not been as bad; this week the scoring was low and the weather was still pretty bad. So we just played some good golf and got in nice position.

Q. You're no stranger to coming down the stretch under pressure. I imagine the nerves get up every time you come down with the lead. You seemed to be as cool as can be down the stretch. Maybe talk to us about what the nerves were like and how good was that second shot on 17? That was the moment.

DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, I think, yeah. Granted we didn't know, I think Lagergren birdied the last, trying to do something there, but, yeah, 17 was a real big hole and two great shots down 17.

It's an interesting golf course. It gives you ways out. If you are nervous, you aim down the left on any hole you want. If you're out of position a little bit too much, you can't get to a few of the flags.

It was nice to step up on a few of them ones on that back nine and put them in A-1 position. Yeah, I was swinging it well. Grateful format me, and I'm concentrating just as much on Jimmy as I am on myself, trying to make sure me and Jimmy have a great week, and I think that helps things as well.

Q. Just wondering, having to watch the Ryder Cup, I assume you watched it last week, does that do anything for you in terms of making you more determined to go out there and get back to where you were before?

DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, it's interesting, it's the first time I watched the Ryder Cup and been bitterly disappointed I wasn't there. It wasn't nice to watch the guys get beat when you know that you think you can add something to the team. But I wasn't playing well enough to get on the team.

But, yes, I think it will be really nice now to try and -- I very rarely do long-term goals, but I would definitely love to be on that team in two years' time to try and help out.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about John Murphy, obviously a young guy, being in a final group today?

DANNY WILLETT: Yeah, John played good. He was playing lovely. Made a couple of silly errors, and nine killed him, like really killed his momentum that he had going. It was just an unfortunate one, kind of rolled in the wind a little bit and had to take a drop.

And then just them back seven also today were tough. Hard to get back from that. And then again a silly error on 16, but nice up-and-down on the last to again finish top 10, gets him in the week after.

This is kind of what you want to do when you're first starting out. These top tens are massive, not only for the money, but for the opportunity to play the week after when you're clearly playing some good golf. We'll see how it goes next week.