The unassuming Texan waited 187 PGA Tour starts to win his first title, but four years later has six, including this major.
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Pumped up for his chance to tie, Day’s shoulders slumped when he saw the scoreboard as he walked to the 18th green. “He’s a top bloke”. Maybe he could have pressured Walker a bit, goaded him into a few mistakes. Instead, it was the first time since Jim Turnesa won the 1952 PGA Championship in a 36-hole match that the victor played so many holes on the final day.
Walker stood on the par-5 17th green looking at a birdie putt that would give him a 3-shot lead over Day going into the final hole.
Pressed by the spectacular eagle at 18 made by world No. 1 Jason Day, Walker responded with his own dramatic putt when he canned a birdie on the 17th hole.
Besides Jason Day, most superstars had poor showings.
The victory by Walker, 37, followed Englishman Danny Willett at the Masters, American Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson at the British Open, striking four hefty blows for those on the “yet to win a major” list. “He’s always looked on the bright side of everything”, said Fowler, who regularly plays practice rounds with Walker. Walker hit almost everything close those two days. “I gave it to him, and if he drank it, that’s on him”, Walker said, pausing as his smile widened. He has been runner-up three times, starting with a short birdie putt he missed at Pebble Beach and most recently his British Open performance that was among the best, just not better than Henrik Stenson.
Jamie Donaldson, Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson demonstrate their supreme bunker skills, while Harrington hit the pin with a remarkable shot from the rough when Butch Harmon doubted he could even reach the green!
He played the final 28 holes without a bogey.
“I literally hit it in the worst place you could hit it”, Walker said.
Unusually, too, there was no re-pairing of the field between the rain-affected third and fourth rounds, which meant the 54-hole leader, Walker, did not play with Day, his nearest challenger, for the final 18 holes.
From that point, Walker chased the smart par. He sank a tense 3-foot par putt and the Wanamaker Trophy was his, along with $1.8 million (1.6 million euros). Henrik Stenson, victor of the previous major last month, the British Open, said after the tournament that he had been troubled all week with his ultra-backspin on his iron shots that caused his ball to spin backwards so much on the greens. “Kind of tried to wrap myself around that; that everything was feeling good, and to go with that and trust what I was doing”.
But he was tested. The Australian eagled the last, putting the pressure on Walker to make the par that would seal victory.
Day, meanwhile, would have preferred to make that eagle with Walker walking alongside. “My wife (Maggie) was here and my parents (David and Lauren) came in on Saturday and a couple of other people, but, to be honest, we really didn’t think we were ever going to play”, Streb said laughing, citing the erratic weather that was part of the tournament the whole weekend.
The PGA Championship he won a year ago at Whistling Straits helped alleviate a lot of the angst.
Eight years later, after ending his playing career because of health issues, Sanders reconnected with Walker to become his caddie.
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“We both felt great all week”, Walker said. We’ve been together a long time. Jimmy drove in the fairway and then made a decision that I don’t think I would have made. I knew exactly where I stood.
