MASTERS champion Danny Willett is setting his sights on becoming world number one after taking a short break to get to know his newborn son.
The 28-year-old conquered Augusta just 12 days after his wife, Nicole, had given birth to Zachariah James and made an appearance with his family at Lindrick Golf Club in his native South Yorkshire yesterday to reflect on the greatest win of his career.
Willett produced a flawless final round of 69 to benefit from Jordan Spieth’s spectacular collapse on the back nine become the first European champion since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999.
After rising to ninth in the world rankings, though, he has no intention of stopping.
"I'm a long way behind points wise, but it's always been a goal of mine to be number one in the world," he said. "It's the reason you get up in the morning and go training, to go and hit balls and putt.
"Fortunately, I've now tasted the top echelons of the sport and you just want more. You want to keep dedicating yourself to working hard and playing good golf and hope to be more and more in them positions on a Sunday afternoon at majors, World Golf Championships and normal PGA and European Tour events.
"We're going to try and enjoy a bit of normal time off and then get straight back to the job in hand of trying to achieve those goals.
"A dream of mine was to win major championships and that's what I dedicated myself to do, to work hard and gain that belief it might one day happen.”
Willett's victory at Augusta has made him a certainty for the Ryder Cup in September while his place on the Great Britain team for the Olympic Games is almost assured.
All players within the top 15 of the Olympic rankings on July 11 will be eligible, although no more than four players can come from any one country. Willett is currently ranked ninth, with Justin Rose 10th.
"The Olympics is going to be great fun," Willett added. "It's going to be awesome to be in and to be around the best athletes in the world at their allotted sports; to speak to them and see how they go about their daily routines.
"For us with the majors and WGCs, we get four chances a year at each of them. These guys get one chance every four years. It kind of puts it into perspective how important those few weeks are for them athletes.
“To be on the plane to Hazeltine with Clarkey (European captain Darren Clarke) and the lads is going to be awesome. It's a dream come true.
"Apparently, the nerves I felt on Sunday compared to the Ryder Cup is massively different."
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