You just kinda kept waiting and waiting but then we had that great rush at the end and Jimmy Walker won the PGA Championship over Jason Day and it was, as billed, those par 5s at the end [that] made things interesting. Perhaps the only surprise about the putt that followed was that it went in the right half of the hole, rather than the middle. He did what he had to do, lifting the ball safely on the green some 35 feet from the hole. He never felt more nerves over such a short putt, but there was never a doubt. “It seemed something of a minor miracle that they managed to get finished at all, but Baltusrol evaded the storms just as the 37-year-old from Texas evaded the world number one snapping on his tail”.
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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. “He really put it on me to make a par”.
“One guy this week was better than me”, said Day, who shot a pair of 67s on the marathon final day of the weather-delayed tournament. “But we got it”.
“It’s incredible sportsmanship”, Walker said. “It was a battle all day”. But to do it with the disruption of a whole day being rained out, sitting and stewing on your lead – albeit shared – and then having to attack the course for 36 holes on the final day in order to consolidate it is all the more remarkable. At the end of the day, I came in here with not the greatest preparation, ” Day said.
After Day’s expected eagle, he had a chance to send the Championship to a playoff. The exchange of pars on the back nine between the two was akin to a game of chess, and it produced a heck of crescendo at the death.
But it ended on a happy note for Walker.
Walker’s wire-to-wire triumph at Baltusrol made it a clean sweep of the season’s majors by first-time victors as the 48th-ranked American claimed the Wannamaker trophy from 2015 champion Day. He is virtually a lock now to be on the Ryder Cup team.
Former PGA Championship victor Rich Beem believes Rory McIlroy needs to not only have fun putting again in a bid to reignite that part of his game – but if possible amid “contractual obligations”, perhaps try out new putters.
He played the final 28 holes without a bogey.
Walker’s final nine included three birdies starting with a bunker shot into the cup on No. 10, a 30-footer drained on No. 11 and a curling 8-foot putt on No. 17 that proved vital. The final birdie was the most important. Walker, addressing his birdie putt at 17, heard the roar of he crowd and backed off. Mickelson also said he would win multiple majors, and that one at Baltusrol sent him on his way, as he won the Masters the following spring and almost the U.S. Open after that.
“It was a long day”.
“As soon as I hit it, it felt flawless”, Day said. I didn’t hit a very good iron shot after a good tee shot.
Chronologically, Day finished T10, T8, T22 and second in the four majors in 2016.
“The 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”, Day told reporters. The leader needed a par on 18 for his first major championship. Any delay would have meant a Monday finish.
MILTON KEYNES, England – Ariya Jutanugarn was flirting with another Sunday meltdown, her six-stroke lead down to one after a double bogey on the par-4 13th at tree-lined Woburn.
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Jimmy Walker said winning the PGA Championship on Sunday for his first career major was a matter of trust, both in himself and in his game.
