Willett hopes to fend off illness at Open

DANNY Willett will hope to have fought off a bout of illness as he prepares for tomorrow’s 145th Open Championship.

The Rotherham Golf Club ace had his preparation for the tournament undermined after being struck down — but he’s confident he’ll be fit and ready for the big event at Royal Troon.

Willett played 11 holes on Monday but said he was enjoying far from a perfect preparation for the tournament.

"I was a bit sick last week but I am getting round the back of that and went out and played a few holes today," he said.

"We're getting there but I was pretty bad for a couple of days. I'm just getting back on top of everything really, getting the fluids back in and hopefully getting back to full fitness by Thursday.”

He will partner world no. 1 Jason Day and Rickie Fowler in the first two rounds, tomorrow, starting at 9.25am.

"It's going to be good playing with them to see where you are at in comparison, and see what they do,” he added. “I'm relatively new to being around this all the time so it's interesting to see what they do differently.”