Danny Willett was a teenage caddie on his last trip to Royal Troon 12 years ago – now the Masters champion is hungry to win The Open as a star in his own right

DANNY WILLETT can barely believe how much has  happened to him since his last visit to Royal Troon.

That was when he was a 16-year-old wannabe, caddying for his local club professional.

Fast forward 12 years and Willett is the Masters champion, a multi- millionaire and one of the favourites to lift the Claret Jug on Sunday.

The Sheffield star, 28, shook his head as he  considered the whirlwind rise he has been through and admitted: “I cannot believe how much my life has changed in such a short time.

“Winning Majors and being in the top ten of the world rankings is what I dreamed about and aimed for.

“But it’s only when you think back to your early years in the game that you realise how far you’ve come.”

Willett looks back on his 2004 trip to Royal Troon with huge fondness — although not as much as the man he was caddying for, Mike Ramsden, who still ‘blames’ the world No 9 for costing home a place in The Open.

Ramsden grinned: “I was in a four-man play-off for two spots. On the first extra hole I had 120-odd yards to the pin and was torn between a normal wedge and my gap wedge.

“Danny piped up and said you’re bound to be pumped full of adrenaline, hit the gap wedge.

“So I did. My ball just about made the front of the green, and span back into an awful spot.

“I failed to get up and down for par and the two European Tour winners in the play-off — Andrew Oldcorn and Sven Struver — made birdies to take the two places in The Open.

“Even worse, the other player in the group eventually got in as an  alternate, and I got nothing.

“I still tell Danny he cost me a place in The Open, but it’s just a bit of banter — if you need to take advice from a 16-year-old, you’ve got no one to blame. I think that was the only time I’ve ever cried on a golf course.

“But I did spent a lot of that week crying tears of laughter.

“There were three of us — myself, Danny and another local pro Greg Hyde — sharing a bedroom at a guest house in Troon, and we had a  fantastic giggle.”

Ramsden, the head pro at Renishaw Park Golf Club in Willett’s home city, felt his stint as a caddie was an important part of the youngster’s learning curve

He added: “I wasn’t coaching Danny, but we were playing practice rounds four or five nights a week.

“He was just starting to get noticed by the England junior selectors, but he knew he still had a lot to learn about course management.

“I’ve made it through to final qualifying for The Open more than a dozen times, been in another play-off and missed by a shot three times. And I felt Danny would learn a lot from caddying for me at Irvine, just down the road from Troon.

“Another European Tour pro I was friendly with — Mark Foster — joined us in the bar one night.

“Danny was not drinking, I should add, and he spent all night pumping him about life on the road, about playing in big tournaments, and stuff like that.

“You could see how much drive and determination Danny had to make it to the top.

“Even though I wouldn’t say he was any more talented than Mark or Lee Westwood at that age, he had as much fire as anyone.

“We stayed on and walked around Royal Troon, watched the first couple of rounds and I think Danny came away swearing he’d be back there as a player one day.”

Willett confirmed that impression and said his first taste of professional competition was a real eye-opener.

He said: “Caddying for Michael at 16 was a big deal for me — the whole week was full of new  experiences, especially with three of us in a room at the B&B. I remember wanting to enter the  qualifying tournament as well. But I was ruled out because I wasn’t quite off scratch. I think I was off 0.7.

“It was really interesting to go up there and caddie and see the guys.

“That was probably my first  experience of being at a Major.

“I remember it as a great Open venue and a lot of the guys were  saying the same thing.

“Hopefully I’ll leave with even happier memories this time.

“It’s the third Major of the year and I’m looking forward to the backing of the British crowds.

“I’m hoping they can help pull me along to another good week.

“The expectation levels will be high — but they are purely from me.

“Regardless of what people say, that is always the biggest pressure.

“People talk about someone cracking under pressure, but that isn’t because of what other people are doing. It is because of what you are thinking yourself.

“As long as you can keep on top of your own thoughts and feel  you have your golf in a good place, anything can happen — as I proved at Augusta in April.”