Yet another target met as Willett settles in next to elite

This week's US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, marks the first appearance in one of golf's defining tournaments for Rotherham Golf Club's Danny Willett.

It is a significant staging post on the career path of the

22-year-old and one in later years he will look back on fondly, regardless of what he goes on to achieve in his career.

Judging by the formative years of his life in professional golf, it could well be a career to celebrate.

For inside just two years in the paid grade, Willett has charged up the rankings, forcing his way into this week's PGA Championship by breaking into the world's top 100 earlier this summer.

He has recorded 13 top-10 finishes in a little over 18 months, having given a broad hint of what he was capable of when finishing 10th at the 2008 Spanish Open when still an amateur.

That result came less than a year after he won the Yorkshire and English amateur titles and a host of tournaments either side of the pond that established him as the world's No 1 ranked amateur.

He also appeared in the Walker Cup in 2007, alongside Rory McIlroy, who has set a high bar for gauging the progress from the amateur game.

"My progress has been slower than Rory's, he just gets better and better and has done ever since he turned pro, but I'm pleased with the progress I'm making," said Willett, who was crowned the Yorkshire Amateur champion three years ago when he defeated Adam Hodkinson at Moortown.

"Getting into the PGA is a fair reflection of where I am in the game and how I've been playing.

"My game is coming on every week. Some weeks it works for you, some it doesn't.

"And you have got to stay patient, particularly since I've still got time on my side.

"My 'Race to Dubai' ranking is strong (No 31) and in all honesty I'll be struggling not to make the Dubai World Championship at the end of the season. The task for me now is to keep playing and developing."

Earning an invite to the PGA is a reward for sustained form over a long season with the world's top 100 all invited to the party.

Willett has fallen short in his attempts to qualify for the Open and US Open in one-off qualifiers in recent years, most notably last summer when he lost a play-off at Sunningdale to miss out on a place at Turnberry.

Failing to qualify for his major debut at St Andrews last month was another momentary jolt to his otherwise smooth ride but he did not let it sidetrack him, particularly as he was on course to fulfil his season's ambition.

"At the beginning of the year, I set myself a target of getting to the PGA through the top 100 and I've done that," said Willett, whose fifth-place finish at the European Tour's own PGA Championship at Wentworth in May provided a major boost up the rankings.

"A major debut is another hurdle overcome and it's a way towards getting where I want to be.

"It's fantastic getting into a tournament like this, to be playing alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

"It's where I want to be every week. I just need to go there now and perform."

Whistling Straits will certainly provide a stern major baptism for the son of a Sheffield preacher.

The 7,514-yard par-72 is a links course on the banks of Lake Michigan, and is generally regarded as one of the toughest tests in American golf.

But having grown up on the links courses of Britain and Ireland – he won the English Amateur at Royal St George's in 2007 – the Whistling Straits layout should not feel too alien to Willett, even though on the day the invite from the PGA of America dropped through his letterbox, he was on the internet researching the course.

He flew to Wisconsin yesterday with the hope of playing two practice rounds before taking on the biggest challenge of his career.

"If I can post a score in or around level par then I'm sure I won't be far away," said Willett, who began the year ranked 139th and has not played competitively since missing the cut at the Scandinavian Masters on July 23.

"I'll set myself a couple of little targets but mainly I'm going to go out there and try to have a bit of fun.

"I'll try not to put too much emphasis on targets."

His objectives for the remainder of the season will be to make an impression this week and to belatedly claim his first professional victory.

And considering his pedigree in meeting targets, you would not back against Willett obliterating them.