{"id":591658,"date":"2026-04-07T17:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591658\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:20:18","slug":"i-won-the-masters-but-now-im-ranked-no-400","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591658\/","title":{"rendered":"I won the Masters but now I\u2019m ranked No 400"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the night of his dramatic Masters win in 2016, Danny Willett went from a formal dinner with the Augusta National members to a wild party with Sir Alex Ferguson and James Nesbitt. His career path since has been just as unpredictable.<\/p>\n

Instead of becoming a regular contender at majors after reaching world No 9, the combination of injuries and a loss of form will see the Yorkshireman celebrate the 10th anniversary of his three-shot win<\/a> ranked down at world No 400.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last 10 years have gone incredibly quickly in the grand scheme of things,\u201d Willett tells The i Paper. \u201cAnd then unfortunately I\u2019ve played pretty shitty for probably four or five of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

That was not the case at the 80th Masters. He was the final player to sign in on Monday afternoon after the early birth of his first son Zac<\/a> meant a late dash over the Atlantic. And he was the last man standing after he showed his Sheffield steel to shoot a final-round 67 as defending champion Jordan Spieth twice found Rae\u2019s Creek on the par-three 12th.<\/p>\n

\"MasterDanny Willett won the Masters after Jordan Spieth (left) collapsed in the final round (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

Then, remembers Willett with a smile, it started to get \u201ccrazy\u201d. Rounds of TV interviews were followed by dinner with the genteel green jackets and then a mad house party with \u201c200 drunk, screaming Northerners\u201d. Even Sir Alex looked happy despite backing Spieth to retain the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was slightly between gritted teeth, but yeah, he did waste 10 grand on his bet, which was his fault,\u201d laughed Liverpool fan Willett.<\/p>\n

The former Manchester United boss had urged Willett then to \u201cnever look back\u201d and become a serial winner like his great side. But April 10, 2016, was to prove the peak of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gone from the literally the top of Everest and it was almost like I f**king slipped off the other side and woke up at the bottom three years later,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a downward spiral\u2019<\/p>\n

Like Paul Lawrie after Jean van de Velde\u2019s 1999 Open collapse, Willett felt initial resentment at the lack of recognition for his win. Yet the bigger problems were tinkering with his swing and a nagging back issue after his Masters triumph.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back now, I wish I\u2019d not messed around so much but the body didn\u2019t help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any other sport, when you get injured, you sit out, you get fully fit again. With golf, you can\u2019t. It\u2019s you. If you don\u2019t play golf, you can\u2019t compete<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more balls I hit, the more injured I felt. I was on a carousel and I couldn\u2019t get off. A downward spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AUGUSTA,Willett remains the only other Englishman with Sir Nick Faldo to have won the Masters (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

His brother Pete\u2019s views on US fans (he called them \u201cfat, stupid, greedy and classless\u201d<\/a>) did not help before the 2016 Ryder Cup. \u201cBut I was playing so poorly that the worst words being said to me were from me,\u201d Willett grimaced.<\/p>\n

Did you consider quitting? \u201cA few times,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo years after Augusta when I was really, really in real pain. I don\u2019t know if you would say I was depressed. It was more frustration. Knowing what you\u2019ve been able to achieve and then going on a golf course and A, being in pain and then B, just hitting it so bad, and not knowing why. It\u2019s like trying to hit a free-kick and missing the ball. That\u2019s what it felt like.\u201d<\/p>\n

He still claimed the 2018 DP World Tour Championships and two other titles \u2013 and shot a first-round 68 at the 2024 Masters just six months after shoulder surgery. But Willett\u2019s physical issues have always stymied any career momentum.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sometimes golf has felt so easy \u2013 but really it\u2019s f**king hard\u2019<\/p>\n

He remains the only other Englishman to have won a green jacket along with three-time champion Sir Nick Faldo. His place in golfing history is assured. So what keeps him going now at the age of 38?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s times when this game has felt so easy,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a time when it felt really hard and you just want to get back and at least have the feeling again of your hands shaking, being in contention in a big tournament against the best players in the world because that\u2019s where I feel like I belong. Yeah, that is the want and desire.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, for the billions of people around the world that play golf, there\u2019s only 54 people that have won Augusta. To be one of them is pretty good.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s f**king hard golf, regardless of what other people think. It\u2019s even harder when what you think of yourself isn\u2019t great. There\u2019s work to be done, but fingers crossed, touch wood, we\u2019re getting closer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the night of his dramatic Masters win in 2016, Danny Willett went from a formal dinner with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85,288918,17202],"class_list":{"0":"post-591658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-sports-interview","13":"tag-the-masters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}