By E Michael Johnson
Not every PGA Tour player dislikes LIV Golf. Danny Willett, if he’s being honest, is probably thankful the newly formed golf league exists. After all, while Willett has a Masters Green Jacket that can never be taken away, he was staring at losing his PGA Tour card again, finishing the 2021-22 season in 141st place on the FedEx Cup points list. However, when enough players moved to LIV, Willett moved up to 124th and with full exempt status, decided to play more in the autumn to try to rack up some early points.

Good strategy, Danny, good strategy. Playing with co-leader Max Homa in the final pairing (the first time Willett ever held or co-held the lead in a PGA Tour event after any of the first three rounds), Willett hung in there despite a hiccup double-bogey 7 on the par-5 ninth (his first over-par score of the week) to finish with a even-par 72, and stand tied for second. Just one shot back of leader Justin Lower, Willett is in position for his first PGA Tour win since that magical Sunday at Augusta National.

Big things were expected of Willett after he won the Masters in 2016. As far as his PGA Tour results since then, big disappointment is more like it. Willett, however, is seeking to change that narrative.

Willett’s round was non-descript but productive in the sense that with the winds building as the day went on, the parade of pars that sandwiched his birdie-double-bogey stretch at Nos. 8 and 9 before a birdie at the 14th broke the string kept him in position, allowing for a closing birdie to keep the deficit at one.

“Some scrappy golf,” Willett said of his round. “I had a few nice looks kind of 12 through 16 and didn’t make any. Then yeah, it’s always nice to get a little bit of look down the last there to make a birdie to be in that last group tomorrow.”

Not that anything in his recent PGA Tour career would indicate he’d be on the precipice of victory. Since his Masters-winning season in 2016 Willett has played 86 events with just six top-10s, his best a T-4 at the 2020 Rocket Mortgage.

Still, Willett’s resume is not totally lacking. He has had wins in three significant events in Europe since 2016 and this week, his putter has been co-operating. Using an Odyssey Versa #1 Wide model — basically the same model he used to win the Masters, albeit an inch shorter — Willett is more than five strokes better than the field in strokes gained/putting, aided by a perfect nine-for-nine in the critical four-to-eight-foot range.

That kind of putting is the type that keeps PGA Tour cards — and wins PGA Tour events.

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