THE 150TH OPEN

July 17, 2022

Danny Willett

Mixed Zone

DANNY WILLETT: Probably wasted a lot. I had five three-putts today. So, yeah, probably there's a good score out there today. Wind is light. The greens are a little bit softer.

Yeah, I think they're going to gnash this out for the two in front to potentially just keep going and give themselves a bit of space.

Q. How do you look back on the whole Open experience?

DANNY WILLETT: It's been a great experience. 150th, great crowds all week. Disappointing obviously with the middle couple of days.

Yeah, it's always nice to be around here on the weekend and walking up the last. The Open is a special venue. To be back here obviously in five years' time is going to be a long wait.

Q. You were playing with Barclay Brown who's also from South Yorkshire. What did you make of him? I know you don't know him particularly well. What did you make of playing with him today?

DANNY WILLETT: It was good. I don't know what the Italian lad was, but I would have said Barclay would have had a sniff around the turn. He was making it, and then he's had a few silly errors there down the stretch, which is a shame. I would have thought the Italian lad would probably get the silver medal.

Nice player. First time I've played with him. I forget I'm a good bit older than these boys now. So I chatted with him, he said he's going to do his two years left at Stanford.

Yeah, he's off to Slovakia on Tuesday and playing for England. He's a nice player. It's interesting to see how many good golfers are coming out of Yorkshire. It's nice.

Q. Would you give him advice if he wants it?

DANNY WILLETT: If anyone wants it, you'd always give him advice. I think he was more concentrating obviously trying to play well today on what he was doing. But yeah, if anyone needs anything.

Q. When it was kind of going a bit pear-shaped for him on the back nine, and obviously you're concentrating, quite rightly, on your own game, did you speak to him at all? Did you kind of feel for him because you obviously sensed it?

DANNY WILLETT: You just try to talk normally to him. It's always difficult. You don't know how people take it. I'm sure, if people try to talk to me when I'm on a bad run, I'd probably look at them with daggers. It's tricky to know what to do.

But he took it well. He took it in stride, which enabled him to make birdie up the last. Regardless of what happens to you in the week, it's always a nice feeling to end like that.

Hopefully he doesn't take too much positive away from what is for any amateur playing in The Open is a great success.