Danny Willett aims to thrive under pressure at Nedbank Golf Challenge

Danny Willett is preparing for a new kind of challenge as he defends his Nedbank Golf Challenge title at Sun City this week.

Willett was 83rd in the world before his victory at the Gary Player Country Club 12 months ago but returns to South Africa ranked 20th - Justin Rose is the only higher-ranked Englishman - and fresh from finishing second on the 2015 Race to Dubai.

The 28-year-old is one of the favourites in the 30-man field and is keen to experience what it feels like to start events with more pressure on his shoulders.

"This next year I'll be knuckling down playing in Europe and trying to get another couple of wins, getting in contention and becoming familiar with being in contention a lot," Willett said.

"I want to see how I cope with the pressure of pitching up to events as one of the favourites and expecting to win. It's going to put a different spin on how I approach things and how I cope with different situations.

"Depending on how next year goes I might take a PGA Tour card the following year. For the time being I'm concentrating on Europe and we'll see where it takes us."

One thing Willett will not be changing is his approach to this week's event, having secured victory 12 months ago with an 18-under-par total of 270 thanks to closing rounds of 65 and 66.

"If you want to win you've got to take the golf course on," Willett said. "If you're happy with an average result you can play it conservatively and ease your way round, but I think I'll have the same strategy and try to do something good again.

"The course sets up for people who hit it straight. If you can drive the ball well you're giving yourself nine irons into greens, which are a lot easier to control than a six or seven iron when you're hitting into small greens with the wind swirling round. I'll be trying to be aggressive off the tee at the right times and take it from there.

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"I said from the get-go [last year] there are a few holes where it's driver or three iron off the tee and you could have a 100-yard difference. Coming into the greens with a wedge or a five iron makes a massive difference, so we said let's just man up and take on the line which will give us a better birdie chance.

"The reverse side is that if you don't drive it well you're going to make a few big numbers, but in a field of only 30 you're going to have to shoot some good numbers, looking at the winning scores from previous years. If you settle for par you're not getting anywhere."

Watch the Nedbank Golf Challenge live on Sky Sports 4HD from 8am on Thursday.