Willett’s good form continues

bruced
July 24, 2015

Danny Willett is following up his impressive performance at last week’s Open with another strong showing at the Omega European Masters.

The Englishman holds the 36-hole lead at Crans-sur-Sierre after following up an opening 65 with a superb eight-under-par 62.

His performance comes less than seven days after he held the halfway-lead at St Andrews for the better part of two days, before eventually finishing in a tie for sixth.

Willett mixed nine birdies with a single bogey on Friday to take the sole lead.

He started with three birdies right out of the gate, and then added four more in the space of five holes starting from the seventh.

He dropped his only shot of the day at the twelfth before hitting back two more birdies at 14 and 15 for a round of 62.

It was very, very good, right from the get-go,” Willett told Europeantour.com.

“I hit it well on the range this morning, got into a nice rhythm early doors and carried it through the whole round. Every part of my game felt pretty good today; I controlled my ball really well all day and my putter stayed hot for the whole day.

“I’m better mentally now than I was. Over these last two weeks especially, I haven’t been getting too far ahead of myself, and every time I’ve got in trouble I’ve just taken my medicine and moved onto the next.

“I didn’t actually hit the ball that well for the last two holes, but still managed to make par, whereas before, I might’ve got annoyed with myself and dropped a shot or two.”

At 13 under par, Willett is one shot clear of Korean duo YE Yang, a former PGA champion, and Seukhyun Baek, both of whom shot 63s on the day.

“The conditions were ideal and my putting was good as well, so I’m very happy,” said Yang.

“I managed to judge the ball distance better as the ball flies ten per cent further due to the altitude – it’s beautiful, with the mountains and scenery.”

Three shots further back in fourth place is Swedish amateur Marcus Kinholt (66), while overnight leader Gregory Havret dropped down to tied-fifth after a 69.

Havret lies alongside French countryman Raphael Jacquelin (64), Australians Richard Green and Marcus Fraser and American Dave Lipsky.

Former champions Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia continued to struggle.

Westwood is nine shots off the pace after rounds of 68 and 69, while Garcia is two shots further back following rounds of 69 and 70.

Play was suspended on Friday evening due to the threat of lightning with around 36 players still out on the course.

They will return on Saturday morning to complete their second rounds.