Walker calmly made it to capture the PGA Championship, ending a long and wet week at Baltusrol, and still having just enough strength left to hoist the 37-pound Wanamaker Trophy.
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His first bolt came when he holed a bunker shot for birdie from 15 yards on the 10th, the second when he knocked in a 30-footer for on the 11th.
Day was up-and-down for an even-par 34 through nine, but finished his round with an eagle on the par-5 18th hole to pull within one stroke of Walker.
But Walker, who said he was going for the green with his 3-wood second shot but didn’t hit it well, kept grinding.
Adam Scott entered play Sunday seven shots behind leader Jimmy Walker (-11), but in his quest to catch the ever-growing group of players near the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard, may have hit one of the best shots of the tournament.
“I was thinking up 17 if I could make that it would put it out of reach”, Walker said.
“It was a battle the whole day”, said Walker, a five-time victor on the US tour. It was Day, the defending champion and world’s No. 1 player, down to his last chance and delivering with a 2-iron that landed in front of the pin and stopped 15 feet away for eagle.
“That’s what I felt about myself and winning something like this”. I felt confident in what I was doing with my putting, my chipping. I think if you are coming into a major with that mindset, you know you are going to do well. At the top of the tournament officials had to issue an apology after they made a massive screw-up, possibly costing one golfer his shot at the win.
Her late collapse in the ANA Inspiration almost as recent as her three straight LPGA Tour victories, the 20-year-old Thai player held on to win the Women’s British Open for her first major title. “You wouldn’t expect anything less, best player in the world”.
Henrik Stenson, who won the duel at Royal Troon with a record score in a major, piled up enough birdies on the back nine for a 67 and was two shots behind in his bid to join Ben Hogan as the only players to win back-to-back majors at age 40. The final birdie was the most important. Yeah, a little disappointed, but you know what, at the end of the day, I came in here with not the greatest preparation. Bubba Watson won the event previous year, beating England’s Paul Casey in a playoff. So it was actually quite nice to be able to see him celebrate with his family and friends there. “He is a deserving victor”.
Day, who was among the first to congratulate Walker on the 18th green, said: “I tried to give it a good run”.
“I’m very happy with the defense”.
American Daniel Summerhays finish third today on 10-under after a final round of 66. Branden Grace (67), Hideki Matsuyama (68) and Brooks Koepka (70) tied for fourth at 9 under.
It was an incredible tournament with lots of name changes on the leader board.
First, the grounds crew arrived at 3 a.m.to ready this otherwise pristine Garden State real estate that had turned into a spongy mess.
The water-soaked course nudged organizers into using preferred lies, or “lift, clean and place” rules, in the last round, believed to be a first in major golf history. There was no repairing for the final round.
Jutanugarn played the final five holes in 1 under for an even-par 72 and a three-stroke victory over American Mo Martin and South Korea’s Mirim Lee.
After two straight rounds of 67, he had a “really good” range session before play was halted, but when he returned to the practice facility Sunday morning, his swing failed to click as it had the day before.
As title defences go, Jason Day’s couldn’t have been much braver – or gone much longer.
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Better yet: It moved him from No. 29 to No. 4 in the Ryder Cup standings, all but assuring him a spot on the team.
