Yorkshire’s first major winner is expected to undergo shoulder surgery next week and hopes to be back in action in time for the first major of 2024 at Augusta National, where he famously won a Green Jacket in 2016.

The 35-year-old from Sheffield has been dogged by injuries ever since and he is now going under the knife in a bid to finally rid himself of a shoulder tear he aggravated at the BMW PGA Championship last week.

Willett looked set to challenge for the the lead on day one at Wentworth when he covered his first 12 holes in six under par, only to aggravate his shoulder injury after hitting his tee shot on the 15th.

Managing the pain: Danny Willett holds his shoulder after playing his second shot on the 6th hole on Day Two of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

That led to a double bogey and the 2019 winner dropped three more shots on the last two holes and had to settle for a one-under-par 71.

“I hit balls for half an hour on Tuesday, half an hour yesterday and then the warm-up today and actually in fairness I felt pretty strong,” Willett said at the time. “But when it goes it goes.”

Willett gallantly completed the week to finish in a tie for 64th.

The eight-time DP World Tour winner, who pulled out of the Irish Open after an opening 76, visited a surgeon in Manchester on Monday to determine the best course of action.

Last straw - Danny Willett clutches his shoulder at Wentworth last week (Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

“There is no point in playing when you don’t feel like you can compete and you are in pain,” said Willett.

“The amount of stuff I am having to do just to get through 18 holes is pretty extreme without anything progressing or getting better. It’s not great.

"I have managed it pretty well for about three years but the last eight months have been pretty funky.”

When fit and healthy the man who developed his game at Rotherham Golf Club is one of the best closers of a tournament in the game, as he showed in the past at Augusta, Wentworth and in 2021 at his most recent win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“I know what I’m capable of. I have won a lot of times and played well around the world. When I’m in good shape and have no niggles, I can compete,” he said.

"Unfortunately, when it is like this and you are constantly battling against stuff, it is hard to get back into that frame of mind.

"It is always in your head that something could just flare up or go. People don’t know that, they just look at your scores and think you are playing rubbish.”

Asked last week when was the last time he played without pain, Willett said: “I haven’t done that for a long, long time. I genuinely couldn’t tell you when that was. I have had weeks or months where everything has been OK but not six or nine months, so as to get some momentum.

"All the lads these days are so good, you have to put the hours in to compete with them. You know some young kid is doing double your amount of work and isn’t injured.”

Three Yorkshire winners on the DP World Tour this season, Dan Bradbury, Dan Brown and Daniel Gavins, are all in action at the Open de France this week.

'It is always in your head that something could just flare up' - Danny Willett set to be sidelined for six months with shoulder injury