Background
Willett was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and is the son of Maths teacher Elisabet Willett.
Willett was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and is the son of Maths teacher Elisabet Willett.
In March 2008 he became the number one ranked amateur in the world. Willett turned professional in May 2008, and earned his European Tour card for the 2009 season coming through qualifying school. Following a successful 2009, finishing 58th in the inaugural Race to Dubai with 8 top-10s, Willett challenged at the 2010 Bayerische Motoren Werke Professional Golf Association Championship, taking the first round lead before falling off the pace and finishing outright fifth, winning 190,800 euro.
Following this performance, Willett moved into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time.
He finished the 2010 season ranked 23rd on the. He defeated Marcus Fraser on the fourth extra hole of a sudden death playoff.
Willett played a fantastic chip shot from the rough at the back of green, after going long with his approach, to set up a two-foot par putt and when Fraser missed a short four foot putt to bogey the hole, that left Willett with the task of tapping in for his maiden victory. Willett finished third at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play, earning special temporary membership on the Professional Golf Association Tour for the remainder of the 2015 season.
Through 36 holes at the 2015 Open Championship, Willett was one stroke off the lead of Dustin Johnson and was paired with him in the final group for the third round of the Championship.
He only could muster an even-par 72 in the third round, however, and dropped down the leaderboard. A final round 70, moved him into a tied for 6th at the Old Course at Street Andrews, his best finish in a major. Though he earned enough to qualify for a Professional Golf Association Tour card, Willett declined to take Professional Golf Association Tour membership for the 2015-2016 season.
2007 Yorkshire Amateur, English Amateur European Tour wins (4) DNP = Did not play CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied Yellow background for top-10.
Amateur Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2005 Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2007 Professional World Cup (representing England): 2013 EurAsia Cup (representing Europe): 2016 (winners).
He was a first-team All-OVC performer and a member of the OVC"s All-Tournament Team in both seasons.