April 12, 2016 6:05 AM

One brother's historic victory is another's 15 minutes of Twitter fame

Danny Willett might have come from nowhere to take the Masters. But it was his brother, PJ, tweeting the final hours of the tournament from his home in Birmingham, who stole the spotlight. PJ Willett, who describes himself as “Author. Teacher. Inexperienced Father” on his Twitter profile, swore, drank and joked his way through the tense close to the four-day contest that saw his brother become only the second Englishman to wear the famous green jacket. His tweets included digs at Willett’s rival, Jordan Spieth, as well untempered emotion as his brother edged closer to the win.

If you’re not a golf fan, you might not have been aware that this past weekend was one of the biggest on the sport’s calendar. Sunday was the last day of the Masters tournament, one of the sport’s most iconic majors. It’s a tradition-laden competition with a long history of heroic performances (and collapses) on Sunday afternoon. This year hardly disappointed, creating history of a sort not previously seen on the august links at Augusta National Golf Club. Defending champion Jordan Speith, a 22-year-old phenomenon from Texas, had led the tournament comfortably since Thursday afternoon…only to completely fall apart of the back nine on Sunday and hand the green jacket (literally and figuratively) to Englishman Danny Willett.

If your initial reaction was to wonder who Danny Willett is, don’t feel bad; that was the generalized reaction of even those hardcore golf fans who follow the PGA Tour. I’m a casual fan, and I’ve never even heard of Willett. His ascent is a great story, in the same way Spieth’s unfathomable historic collapse is. That their stories are intertwined created a narrative that will be talked about for years to come.

Few people had more fun with Willett’s sudden rise to prominence than his brother, PJ…who also won £2,122.50 by betting on his brother to win the Masters at 55:1 odds.

Danny Willett’s story is a great one on its own merits. That his brother was able to share the fun and get his own 15 minutes of fame makes it just that much more special…though I doubt Jordan Spieth will be sharing in the celebration. Hopefully, P.J. Willett was able to recover sufficiently from his well-deserved celebration to be in condition to teach yesterday morning.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 12, 2016 6:05 AM.

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