Trading dramatic shots over the final holes of a 36-hole golfing marathon, Walker and Australian star Day kept the drama intense to the last shot, a one-metre par putt by Walker at the 18th to claim a one-stroke victory.
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Day – and Dash – watched on TV as Walker came to the 18th green needing a par on the course’s easiest hole. He safely pitched to 35 feet, and the putt settled 3 feet beyond the hole.
The 37-year-old Texan calmly canned a three-foot par putt to cap a wire-to-wire win with steely precision, shooting a final-round 67 to finish on 14-under-par 266.
“It was going to be very hard for him to bogey from there”, Day said. “That’s unreal. So it really put it on me to make a par (on 18)”.
“It was unbelievable”, he said. “It was a battle all day”.
“Great stuff, mate”, he told Walker. With barely any time to rest or recharge, Stenson, 40, gave it a run Sunday at the PGA Championship, a back-nine double bogey finally derailing his hopes of a second straight major championship.
But it ended on a happy note for Walker.
Walker, the PGA’s first wire-to-wire victor since Phil Mickelson at Baltusrol in 2005, missed the cut in three of the prior four majors and was never better than seventh in 17 prior major starts.
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.
“I would have said it would have happened the last couple years, the way I was playing”. He needed a performance that was out of this world in a wet and wild Sunday, and he delivered every step of the way.
They also ruled that final-round play would be conducted with preferred lies given the saturated state of the Baltusrol course and more rain expected. He began the back nine by holing a 45-foot bunker shot on No. 10 and making a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 11. The final birdie was the most important. Walker twice had to back off his 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th when he heard the crowd erupt after Day’s shot into the 18th.
“It was a long day”.
“He came up to me and said the ball was scared of me when I hit it”, Day said.
Daniel Summerhays was third at 10 under after closing with a 66, with fellow American Brooks Koepka (70), South African Branden Grace (67) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (68) sharing fourth spot a further shot behind.
For the second straight major, this became a duel over the final hour. But a par, via a two-putt and after finding the rough with his second shot, at the last saw the American secure his win. All I knew was that I assumed I was only two shots back going into 18.
“It was nice to get the eagle, just to try and make Jimmy think about it”, Day said.
He produced a bogey-free last round, holding off world No. 1 Jason Day for a first major crown. Any delay would have meant a Monday finish.
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The chaotic week full of storms, delays and odd decisions by tournament officials was behind Walker and the weight of trying to win his first major title wasn’t an issue.
