History is not really on the side of Danny Willett this week. You have to flick back to 1979 to find the last debutant to win a Green Jacket, an extraordinary statistic for a major that does not move venue, but a gap that points to the value of experience.
Not that the Englishman seems remotely overawed. Willett opened the 79th Masters with a one-under-par 71, a score that at least offers cause for lofty aspirations. He is well placed to survive for the weekend.
“You come up here on Sunday and Monday to try to take it all in then,” Willett said. “Today was more about just trying to cool down and get back to doing your job. I feel like I kind of should be here but you’re not trying to put too much pressure on yourself.
“Over the years you look at guys who show that the more you play it, the better your chances are of getting it around. You know where your misses are. So for first time around, that was pretty good.”
There is a deeper significance to the continued prominence of Willett. He leads the European Tour order of merit, for example. That is, with English golf desperately seeking a new generation to follow on from Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, this 27-year-old from Yorkshire has scope to lead the charge.
Willett, who was educated at Jacksonville College in Texas, has a wonderful variety in his iron play, a point perhaps lost as he struggled with injuries before the start of last season. In December, highlighting the upward curve of his career, he won the Nedbank Challenge by four strokes. He has every right to feel at home in major company.
“It was brilliant out there,” Willett said. “The 1st tee was awesome. Obviously there is a different way of announcing off the 1st tee, 7:56 tee-time, second off; there were already 20,000 people around the course. It was just really special.”
The highlight of Willett’s first round was a 50ft eagle putt at the 13th, converted despite what he estimated as 18ft of break. “That’s the kind of thing you are dreaming of as a kid,” he said. Willett will receive a piece of crystal for that effort.
That Tom Watson matched Willett’s first-round score offered a nod to just how vital experience can be. Watson, at 65, is most likely playing his penultimate Masters. He will bid farewell to the Open in what is sure to be an emotional St Andrews scene in July. “At my age this is a minor miracle,” he said with a smile of his round-one showing.
Perhaps Watson wanted to move on from his troubled Ryder Cup captaincy at Gleneagles last September. At the annual Masters champions dinner on Tuesday he even made small talk with Phil Mickelson, his chief tormentor in Scotland.
Modestly, Watson claimed Augusta National was “there for the taking” when discussing his Thursday morning. “The course is a little softer than I remember for quite a number of years,” he added.
“I have played the golf course enough times to know where I’m supposed to hit it and where I’m not supposed to hit it. I struggled the last few years trying to hit shots like I used to, when I know that I had to hit my best shot, and the ego gets involved. My ego got involved too much the last few years. And today I just kind of played within myself. I want to make the cut. I haven’t done that for a few years.”
On matters Mickelson, Watson revealed he had spoken with the most outspoken critic of his Ryder Cup captaincy before Tuesday’s dinner. “No,” he answered when asked if the relationship with Mickelson was now awkward. “We said hello, and that was it.”
