Willett rights ship after shaky start in title defence

"He's always going to be a Masters champion and can sit back knowing that he has a tee time at Augusta National as long as he's still walking".

Garcia, who has recorded 22 top-10 finishes in majors without tasting victory, shared the halfway lead on four under with Ryder Cup team-mate Thomas Pieters, first-round leader Charley Hoffman and Rickie Fowler, whose 67 was the lowest score of another tough day.

And such struggles have inevitably not gone unnoticed on social media, where a handful of Willett's 114,000 followers have not been afraid to lambast the world number 17.

"Yeah, so far this week's been incredible just to be back and all the memories and the feelings that you get from this place", Willett said at his Tuesday press conference. "Social media is one of the things these days that allows people to write and say whatever they want". I missed only four greens out there.

Willett was the first Englishman to win the Masters since Nick Faldo in 1996 but he suggested that more countrymen are waiting in the wings to become Masters contenders.

"I'm still a Masters champion", he pointed out.

"I feel like I'm playing great", Henley said. Since the tournament started, only three players won as rookies, including the first champion Horton Smith in 1934. Y ou've achieved the greatest height in your game. "I've shown myself many times after that I can contend and I truly feel I cannot only win one (major) but more than one".

References to Augusta member and tournament marker Jeff Knox, whose services will be required once more after 53 players made the cut. "But you can't change your game like that". He's hoping to rekindle some of last year's magic this year to get his season on the right track. "If you don't, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have, it's just not going to help".

"However, I'm sure that when this Masters is over Danny Willett will be looking forward to simply getting back to being the golfer Danny Willett".

Having started the year by missing the cut in Abu Dhabi, he repeated the trick at the Honda Classic, finished 11 over at the WGC-Mexico Championship and surrendered the lead at the Maybank Championship as an untidy final-round 73 pushed him down into a tie for fifth.

Former Masters champions Zach Johnson, Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Trevor Immelman, Angel Cabrera, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal and Weir.

"There's a lot of good in there, it's just unfortunate, obviously week to week it doesn't matter, really. I've been ready and raring to go ever since".

The Harleyford Golf Club member has risen from No.121 to No.15 in the world in the last 12 months following a string of consistent performances and his first European Tour title, the Alfred Dunhill Links title at St Andrews.