The Open: Danny Willett in dreamland on top of St Andrews leaderboard
Last Updated: 19/07/15 9:25pm
Danny Willett was soon brought down to earth by his own mother after setting the pace in the 144th Open at St Andrews.
Willett is an incredible 41 under par for his last 10 rounds on the Old Course at St Andrews after adding a 69 to his opening 66 to finish nine under par, two shots ahead of Scotland's Marc Warren and former Masters champions Zach Johnson and Adam Scott.
No English player has won the Claret Jug since 1992, when Nick Faldo came out on top, but just as Willett started thinking about personal glory, a text message soon put his feet back on the ground.
"I just had a text message off my mum saying well done, you've made the cut," Willett said, to laughter in the St Andrews press room.
"I'm sure there will be a few messages, I can feel my phone buzzing a little bit right now. But it might be a case tonight of turning the phone off and having a little bit of quiet time."
Willett led by three shots at one point, but was let down by his putter on a couple of occasions on the back nine, but he almost drove the 18th and made a birdie to claim a two-stroke lead, albeit with plenty of evening challengers to come.
"I looked at the leaderboard on 11 and knew we were three in front," added Willett, whose best finish in a major is a share of 15th at Muirfield in 2013.
"It's a childhood dream and looking up there it's still a little bit surreal, but something I'm going to have to get used to, otherwise no point in being up there.
"You can't really put it out of your mind but it's pretty cool. Leading the Open is what you dream about. For Brits especially it's the major you want to win and here at the Home of Golf it's a little bit more special."
