Danny Willett feeling great as he makes Masters cut on Augusta debut

Image: Danny Willett: Englishman is enjoying Augusta debut

Danny Willett is looking forward to two more rounds at Augusta after easily making the cut at his first Masters,

Willett won a pair of crystal glasses for his eagle at the 13th on Thursday and he matched his opening 71 on Friday to sit on two under, alongside former world No 1 Tiger Woods.

The par fives were not as kind to Willett in his second round, as he dropped a shot at the same hole he eagled on Thursday, but he finished with back-to-back birdies to make completely sure of his place at the weekend.

Danny Willett was pleased with his consecutive one under during his first Masters and feels he’s getting a better idea of how to play Augusta.

"This week has been everything I've dreamed of and more," said Willett, who is 12 shots off the sparkling pace being set by record-breaking Jordan Spieth.

"It's fantastic and the amount of people here is phenomenal. The atmosphere and the roars are incredible.

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"I've not just scraped over the cut line but I'm up there quite nicely and it's the position I wanted to be in. Take away Spieth and Charley Hoffman and I'm only three or four back, so I'm really, really pleased."

Slightly closer to the cut, although safe for the weekend, were Ryder Cup pair Graeme McDowell and Jamie Donaldson, and 2016 Team Europe captain Darren Clarke.

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McDowell ended on one-over and admitted his play off the tee was a big problem as he said: "I continued to drive it like a wally. I'm not sure what's going on with the driver, it's one of my strengths normally.

"I drove the ball terribly the last few days so to make the cut from there, I'm pretty happy with that. I had a couple of clumsy three-putts on the front nine today to put me behind the eight ball a bit, but I dug in and birdies on 15 and 16 were very important.

"It's nice to be here for the weekend, get another couple of rounds under my belt and keep building for the rest of the season. Of course I'd love a big finish, but I need rounds, I need reps, I need to see shots."

Donaldson, who played alongside Woods, also finished on one-over, added: "It was great. He's a great bloke. He's a down to earth guy and top fella. I've never played with Tiger before so to do that at Augusta was nice. I enjoyed it.

"It's great to play with players who are better than you so you can learn from them and try to add things to your game that they do. His demeanour is unbelievable. He's so calm - that's the main thing I learned from him."

Clarke completed the trio on one-over after matching Donaldson's 71, and he said: "I want to compete and put some scores on the board.

"I've been playing better of late so I just need to keep on doing what I'm doing. Augusta is always tough, it's a very stern examination, so this is a good way to start the year in the majors."

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