Danny Willett was delighted to put himself in a solid position and raise £5,000 for Prostate Cancer UK as he got his week hosting the 2021 Betfred British Masters off to a positive start.
The Englishman made five birdies in round one but also two bogeys in a 69 that left him just three shots behind first round leader Matthias Schwab at The Belfry.
Willett was flying as he got up and down at the third, put his approach inside two feet at the sixth and then got up and down again after a wild tee shot at the tenth.
He dropped a shot at the 11th after getting out of position off the tee again but was edging up the leaderboard as he put approaches to five and ten feet at the 13th and 16th.
He then found water off the tee at the last for a bogey and admitted he was distracted on the tee after a three putt par at the 17th.
5⃣Birdies in @Danny_Willett's round of 69, means our sponsors @Betfred will donate £5,000 to @ProstateUK. 👏 #BetfredBritishMasters🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/aUgvcaDKfW
— British Masters (@british_masters) May 12, 2021
"It was good, real good ball control, gave ourselves a lot of chances," he said of his round.
"Didn't quite take as many as we would have liked and then obviously a bit of a poor finish - the mind went wandering a little bit which was a shame.
"Nice enough position with three rounds left.
"I maybe didn't quite get out of the 17th quick enough and then with the tee box forward on 18, there is a decision there. It could easily be three wood, probably should have been three wood, and then I just got right in the middle of hitting two shots and hit the wrong one."
Willett has selected Prostate Cancer UK as the official charity of the event and Betfred have pledged to donate £1,000 for every Willett birdie and £2,000 for every eagle the 2016 Masters Tournament winner makes this week.
Prostate cancer will affect one in eight men in the United Kingdom and Willett is eager to raise money and awareness for the cause
"It's an alarming number, really," he said. "You don't really ever hear about it a great deal or really hear anything or how people go about it so it was just more raising awareness of it.
"Of course in this day and age to raise awareness you need to get out there and money always helps.
"Betfred have obviously been very generous this week for the birdies and eagles and obviously the £50,000 if anyone has a hole-in-one on 14.
"It just seemed to fit at the right time in my life, the age I'm at, 33, you're coming up to that (age) when you've got to start looking after your body and really taking care of your health and making sure that you're in a fit and good way."
