Winning the PGA Championship took care of that.
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This year’s majors featured four first-time winners.
“I remember when I left…”
“That’s brutal sometimes when you know all you have to do is make a par, and I haven’t made a bogey all day”, Walker said.
Though Walker felt some improvement last week at the Canadian Open, he’d struggled much of the year, particularly in the majors. “I haven’t played as well as I would have liked to, I’m not on the list, I’m not even close. I’m not even close”.
“I saw Davis (Love, US captain) this week and I told him “Man, I’d love to be on your team”. That’s no longer necessary. He looked like the Walker of old, and became golf’s newest champion. “But for the most part I’ve been able to really practice and work as hard as I need to play at a high level”. The ankle remains tender. He shot 69 and 68 Sunday and was at 6 under.
“I have not had three weeks off in the summer for over two decades, and I’ll take the next three weeks off and be fresh and ready for the FedExCup”, Mickelson said Sunday afternoon.
Watson fell out of the top eight, while Matt Kuchar missed the cut and dropped three spots to No. 11.
Walker went wire-to-wire in the PGA Championship, and he was tested to the very end. He played in the Ryder Cup in 2014 and the Presidents Cup in 2015.
“You can learn the most when you’re in this position”.
But that’s not the point.
“It was nice to have the long break in between the rounds”. Yes, he’s a late bloomer, though most of that was due to some nagging injuries when he first got on the PGA Tour. “I didn’t have my best game today and I didn’t make a putt all day”.
“Dustin, I mean, he’s a great player”. He is virtually a lock now to be on the Ryder Cup team.
All he needs now is a victory.
“There are many in the world of golf who will have celebrated Walker’s win here last night; Harmon, though, may have done it with a certain style”, says Alasdair Reid in The Times. I felt confident in what I was doing. “But obviously, Jimmy just played too good all day”. “Trust all the stuff that I have been working on, and that’s what I tried to apply out there”. “I’m excited about where my game is”.
Daniel Summerhays: A 74 in the final round of the U.S.Open cost Summerhays a top-four finish and a spot in the Masters.
On Sunday, he didn’t let the chance slip away.
“Th e two iron into the green was probably one of the best two irons I’ve ever hit into a par five, especially under the circumstances”.
“I was definitely thinking about that going up the 18th hole”, he said. It’s so fun to know where you are and the situation and pump a drive down the middle of the fairway on kind of intimidating-looking finishing drive.
Day was at the 18th green to congratulate Walker after the tension-packed putt.
Robert Streb wasn’t as fortunate. 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 three-foot par putt by Walker at the 18th to claim a one-stroke victory on Sunday.
AMAZING GRACE: Branden Grace hasn’t won a major.
Walker’s birdie on the 17th increased his lead over Day to three shots.
Walker shot a three-under 67 in the final round. As soon as I hit it, it felt ideal.
Walker led by one stroke after the morning third round and opened the afternoon final round with nine pars to make the turn at 11 under, one ahead of Day and British Open victor Henrik Stenson of Sweden. He tied for fifth in the U.S. Open.
The golfer may not be a well-known figure off the course, but he is popular figure on the circuit. “I literally hit it in the worst place you could hit it”. “I thought I hung in there pretty well considering that”. “Henrik, he’s been around forever, FedEx Cup champion, won a lot of golf tournaments, great player”.
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The win lifted Walker from 48th in the world, the lowest ranking of any major victor since number 108 Keegan Bradley won the 2011 US PGA, to 15th in the updated standings.
