WILLETT IS CROWNED ENGLISH CHAMPION
 Daniel
Willett is the new English champion.(Picture © Tom Ward)
He beat Matthew Cryer 3 and 2 in the 36-hole final in glorious
weather at Royal St George’s, his second title in little
over a week.
All square at lunch after conceding a two-hole advantage
at the end of the morning round, Willett came steaming back
in the afternoon and a run of three birdies in four holes
on the front nine laid the foundations for his victory.
It came just over a week after he won the prestigious South
of England Stoke Play Championship at Walton Heath and on
the back of becoming Yorkshire champion.
“Winning this title means a lot,” he said. “I’ve
been up there in the amateur game for a long time but the
last couple of weeks shows I am up there with the best.
“I didn’t play well this morning. I had trouble
with a left-to-right wind and was always fighting it. I came
in all square when I should have been a couple of holes up.
“So I had a couple of sandwiches for lunch and went
on the range to sort it out. I managed to do that and the
three birdies were pivotal.”
Cryer, who was a quarter finalist two years ago and reaching
the semi-finals last year went one better this time but whatever
he did was countered by the man from Sheffield.
“At the end of the day I couldn’t have done any
more,” he said. “I’m not too disappointed
because the golf was good in the conditions. Daniel won the
final and I take my hat off to him.
“My driving was good but my iron play was a problem.
I couldn’t get the ball under control with my irons
and consequently I kept leaving myself a long way from the
flag.
“I just wasn’t on my game like I’ve been
all week. Perhaps it was the wind but I grafted hard and couldn’t
have done more.”
Cryer was facing a tough task when he fell two behind in
the morning but Willett’s errant driving on the 17th
and 18th allowed the Midlander to go into lunch all square.
But he bogeyed the opening hole in the afternoon and was
never able to get back on terms.
Willett’s birdie burst at the fifth, sixth and eighth
put him 3-up and he reached the turn in 33 to Cryer’s
36.
The pair swapped holes after the turn but the tenth was crucial
in that Willett bunkered his approach and failed to make par.
Cryer, on the green in two, had the chance to close the gap
but three-putted for a half.
As he won the next with a par it could have got him back
to one down but Willett, off the hook, birdied the 12th to
get back to 2-up and although he lost the 13th, another birdie
at 14 got him back on track while pars at the 15th and 16th
sealed the title.
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