“There were a lot of emotions out there”.
Advertisement
“It was a long day”.
Walker refocused and approached the putt once again. “It’s a very special moment to be able to celebrate on the 18th green”.
Walker carded a closing 67 at Baltusrol to finish 14 under par, one shot ahead of Day after the world number one eagled the final hole to pile on the pressure.
The 37-year-old from Oklahoma took the Wanamaker Trophy and the top prize of $1.8 million (1.6 million euros) from a $10 million purse.
He becomes the fifth successive maiden major victor and the fourth this year after Danny Willett (The Masters), Dustin Johnson (US Open) and Henrik Stenson (The Open). Otherwise, he could only lament that because of the weather delay players were not re-paired between the third and fourth rounds. The leader needed a par on 18 for his first major championship. Players could clean mud off their balls in low-mown areas and replace them.
Winning the PGA Championship took care of that.
Newly crowned US PGA champion Jimmy Walker is looking forward to making his second Ryder Cup appearance in September as the United States look to end an embarrassing run of results in the competition. “But obviously Jimmy just played too good all day”.
“On days like this, you’ve just got to keep pushing yourself harder than anyone else, mentally more so than physically”, Day said.”It’s tough, it’s grueling, and it’s more mentally painful to go through days like this, just because you get to a certain point and that barrier, you’ll be sitting there and going, ‘I just don’t know if I can push on anymore'”.
Walker sank a stunning 45-foot chip from a greenside bunker to birdie the par-4 10th and reach 12 under.
Walker then rolled in a left-to-right curling, 30-foot uphill putt for birdie at the 11th to extend his lead to two over Australia’s Day. Following a nervy start to his third round that encompassed three bogeys on the front nine, Walker settled down after the turn, carding four birdies to finish with a two-under par 68, as he set the standard and continued to lead going into the final round.
Walker was standing over an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 17th hole Sunday when he heard a roar that caused him to twice back off the putt.
“We text each other all the time about him getting a new bus, and I’m showing him mine”, Day said. “Sometimes things don’t come easy. Jason is a true champion – eagle at 18, I would expect nothing less”.
Day began the week fighting fatigue and illness, having never played the 7,428-yard layout until a practice round on the eve of the event. “I saw Davis this week and I told him, ‘Man, I’d love to be on your team.’ Haven’t played that well this year, but I feel like there’s still time for me to play good at the end of the year and have a chance to get on the team or get the nod to be picked”. But I can’t be disappointed. “He’s a top bloke and a deserving victor”.
In 2013, he placed third at the Masters before tying for second at the US Open just two months later at Merion.
Stenson, Martin Kaymer and Robert Streb finished tied seventh at 272 total. Though Stenson was done, Walker and Day were still rolling, and what had threatened to be a snooze-fest actually went down to the 72nd hole. I felt confident in what I was doing, felt confident in my golf swing, my putting, my chipping.
Advertisement
“There were a couple of times I thought about walking away”.
