MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2022

Danny Willett

Quick Quotes

Q. Danny, thoughts on your best finish at the Masters since winning the green jacket in 2016?

DANNY WILLETT: It was a good week. Good fun. On the leaderboard for four days, which is always nice around here to see your name up there. Played really nice today. I think with some luck it could have been a really good finish, but I think one of the best Masters for a long, long time. Golf course really showed its teeth. Shows that you can shoot a good score earlier today if you played good golf.

But, yeah, looks like it's going to be someone new in the locker room. We'll wait to see who it is.

Q. I think there are a few guys at T3 that are cursing your name right now. Your par kind of kept some guys out. Is that -- what's it like, do you think, for those guys to miss out on top 12 potentially here? Because you didn't have to --

DANNY WILLETT: Is that what it is? You should have told me. I didn't know. I wasn't sure what it was in here.

They'll be all right. The guys who finish in the top of this leaderboard are not going to have any trouble getting back in next year, I wouldn't have thought. It's a pretty strict regulation to get in this place. Top 50 or win on the PGA TOUR is some pretty tough asks. I think the guys will be all right.

Q. What do you think a week like this does for your confidence?

DANNY WILLETT: You know what, I got good memories coming back to this place whenever I come back, and the game has been trending nicely in practice and stuff, and just nice to get the best finish here against one of the strongest fields of the year that we've played so far and in a major. It's just nice to -- like I said, it was nice to see my name on that leaderboard all week.

Q. What do you make of Scottie Scheffler, four wins in six tournaments, No. 1 in the world, now Masters? Is this just an incredible hot streak, or are we seeing something maybe bigger?

DANNY WILLETT: I have no idea. This is an incredible hot streak. Against the strength of fields that you play these days, guys winning once in a year is great. Winning twice, winning three times, this would be some run over the last two months. Just kind of riding that crest.

I think a lot of guys have probably got to that position and then not quite kind of pushed on, but he seems to have got there, and this was -- I think this would have been a tough week for him being World No. 1 coming to the first major. Everyone always talks, if you win the first one, there's chance of a grand slam. No better person to ask than the guy who's currently the best in the world.

If this is the end of that hot streak, then it's still incredible, but you never know. Teddy is new on the bag, and Teddy has obviously won majors around the world in golf tournaments, and Scottie looks real solid when he is up around the top. We'll see.

Q. You've played with a guy who hopped up a pretty big win here. What kind of mental fortitude does it take from Scottie to have that kind of big lead and obviously he is not coming back?

DANNY WILLETT: Luckily today the wind is kind of dying now. I think if he had got the winds we had yesterday, this could have been an interesting leaderboard with the last few holes. As it is right now, playing the way it is, 15, 16 are actually two pretty good birdie chances. 18 is a good birdie chance with that flag.

If anything, I would see him probably get into 12 and coasting up the last and really enjoying that walk.

Q. When you say you just don't know if it's the end of the hot streak or if it's going to continue, what is it about golf that can just turn on itself?

DANNY WILLETT: If I knew that, I would not be stood here now. I would still be out there because I would be in a better position. I don't know. Nobody knows. You can feel great one day and play poor. You can feel terrible one day and play really well. Golf is just hard. It is just hard. It's a tough game. Especially when you're on a place like this that rewards good golf shots but really punishes bad ones.

I think we just have to wait and see, and luckily it gives you both something to write about.

Q. Are there different pressures that come with winning in this place?

DANNY WILLETT: I think he has won enough big tournaments, and I think he is in a nice place that I think he will be fine. Winning them is always incredible. I think that if this was like his first win and stuff, it might have been a bit different, but most guys come here having won a few times on different tours around the world. When they win here, a lot of the time it's a little bit of a springboard if they're playing well. So we'll see.

Q. Does playing well in a major make a material difference to the tournaments that are coming up and how you have belief or --

DANNY WILLETT: A little bit. We'll see. Again, the game could change. It's in a nice place right now, and this week just kind of suited my eye, and the practices paid off nicely, and, again, I've played this place a hell of a lot of times, so you know all the different things.

We have a lot of golf coming up over the next few months, but it's nice to kind of have at least notched up a nice finish in there, and, yeah, kind of see what the next few months brings us.

Q. Do you have a chance to go to the Crucible?

DANNY WILLETT: I think I'll be here. It's a real shame. I'll have to watch it on TV again.