Willett and McIlroy share putting thoughts

McIlroy collapsed in the final round of the Masters when a maiden major title was in his grasp.

He then failed to close out victory at the Malaysian Open last week, prompting the man he played alongside in the 2007 Walker Cup to offer his support.

“I have a bit of an idea how Rory must have been feeling over the past fortnight,” said 23-year-old Willett.

“He’s a friend of mine and I was chatting to him about his putting troubles. If he could have holed a few, he’d be a Masters champion now and would have won last week too.

“Rory’s changed his putter and is trying different things and we are both looking for the answer but it’s the way golf goes sometimes.

“Suddenly it will all just fall into place again for him and hopefully for me too.”

Willett’s chase for a first European Tour title is now in its third year. He finished 11th in Morocco and 17th last week in Malaysia and tees off at the Volvo China Open today – alongside the Yorkshire trio of Simon Dyson, Richard Finch and John Parry – hoping to build on that form.

“Even at the start of the season I felt I was playing well but the putter was letting me down,” he said. “I’m a little more confident with it now and will be looking to build on that this week.

“We are playing a course which is new to most of the players on the tour so we’ll all be in the same position of working it out as we go.”