Former champion Danny Willett on his prospects of being fit for the Masters

Yorkshire’s first ever men’s major champion when winning the Masters at Augusta eight years ago, underwent shoulder surgery in the autumn.

He had been nursing the injury for a while when it flared up at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth at the end of September.

The champion at that event in 2019, he had covered the first 12 holes in six under-par to spark thoughts of another title challenge, but aggravated a shoulder tear when hitting tee shot on the 15th.

He went under the knife not long after and revealed on his social media that it would be a long recovery process, bringing into range the Masters which begins on Thursday, April 11, as a possible target.

He will be at Augusta as a former champion, but Willett hopes to be there to compete.

Speaking at the Belfry where he is supporting Prostate Cancer UK’s fundraising challenge, The Big Golf Race, Willett said: “The surgery went really well, I’m back hitting balls right now but Augusta is six weeks away. It’ll be very, very close.

“It’s been a long time rehabbing it just to get it up to strength to be able to take the capacity and the load that it needs to. We’ll know more when we start practising in America as to how we’re getting on.

“The beauty of potentially playing [the Masters] is the fact that I know the golf course that well I’m probably not going to be slogging around 18 holes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in practice rounds.

“I’ll be able to take it a little bit easier but I also don’t want to go there and just make up the numbers.”

Injuries have plagued the 36-year-old from Sheffield since his breakthrough major title.

He has won three times since in Dubai, Scotland and at Wentworth, but has struggled to have any consistent form due to the injuries.

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He had been managing his shoulder problem for several months before it flared up at Wentworth and the extent of the damage was only discovered when he went for the surgery.

“We thought there was one tear and when the surgeon went in he realised there were two tears and a good bit of damage around the cartilage and a few cysts he had to clear out,” said Willett.

“It’s a pretty intrusive surgery and it was a bit scary when I first came out and I could barely lift my own hand. You wonder if you’ve done the right thing but now it feels pretty good.

“Ultimately I’m only 36 so I’ve still got a hell of a long time left in my career, so to have this time out now will hopefully mean I can come back and prolong my career and have another good 10 or 15 years at it.”

Willett is now into his fourth year of supporting Prostate Cancer UK’s fundraising efforts and raised £38,000 as host of the British Masters for two years as title sponsors Betfred donated £1,000 for every birdie he made.

The Rotherham Golf Club member admits it was “staggering” to learn that prostate cancer affects one in eight men in the UK and is backing this year’s The Big Golf Race, which challenges golfers to play 36, 72 or even 100 holes in a day.

“It’s a great charity to support,” said Willett. “As men, if something’s not right or we don’t feel well, very rarely do we go and get it checked.

“One of my old England coaches Steve Rolley was diagnosed and fortunately they got it early enough and he’s now fine.

"It’s amazing how many people it has affected that you know, but how little information there was out there about it.”