Eagle means Danny Willett closes on a high in Alps

Sheffield’s Willett carded an opening five-under-par 65 at Crans-sur-Sierre, finishing his round in style with an eagle from 10 feet on the ninth, his final hole of the day. That left the Masters champion in a nine-way tie for second a shot behind American Paul Peterson, England’s Daniel Brooks and France’s Gregory Havret and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.

In contrast, Willett’s playing partners, fellow Sheffielder Fitzpatrick and Sullivan, struggled to rounds of 75 and 74 respectively, with Fitzpatrick limiting the damage with two late birdies after playing his first 14 holes in seven over par.

Willett has endured a mixed campaign since claiming his first major title in April, missing the cut in three of his nine events and recording a sole top-20 finish in the BMW PGA Championship after sharing the halfway lead.

But the only blemish on Willett’s scorecard yesterday came when he duffed his approach to the fifth, but four birdies and the closing eagle after a brilliant approach to the par-5 ninth took him alongside Andrew Johnston, Richard Green, Marcus Fraser, JB Hansen, Julien Quesne, Scott Hend, Li Haotong and James Morrison on five under.

“It was an early start and then I had a terrible warm-up, which wasn’t the best after I’ve had two weeks off trying to work on the game,” Willett said.

“I wasn’t quite expecting a 65.

“Luckily it’s one of them places where if you get it in position off the tee, you give yourself a few chances. I got the ball in play the first few holes and then felt a little bit better after six, seven holes, hit a few good golf shots and my eye fits quite nicely to this place for some reason.”

Willett revealed he had taken the advice of his caddie to play more “competitive rounds” in practice rather than hitting balls on the range, adding: “We played four or five rounds, keeping a card and trying to get back to scoring regardless of how you are swinging it.”

Harrogate’s John Parry enjoyed a first-round 67, but Malton’s Simon Dyson shot 76.