Three more days to go. A 74-foot birdie on the 6th hole got the Australian off and running, en route to a bogey-free round that included two more birdies at 9 and 18. Day has surged into the lead spot. “I’ve had a very good putting year, so my expectations are pretty high”.
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“There was nothing easy about the day – really about the week, for that matter”, Walker said. “Especially coming down the last hole”.
Even so, the world’s No. 1 player was in solid shape to try to join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back PGA champions in the stroke-play era.
“I think they were thinking I would wear the first on Wednesday, I’m going to go with that one, but no, I would have run out of shirts”, Beem said. Sometimes pars are hard. But we got it.
That par gave him a 3-under 67 and a one-shot victory and made the 37-year-old from Texas a major champion.
Walker shot a 2-under 68 for an 11-under 199 total after three soggy trips around Baltusrol Golf Club. He shot a 2-under 68 Saturday.
Overall, the average score at Baltusrol through Saturday at the PGA was 70.762, or just.762 over par.
“The tee shots were a little off”, she said.
“It just shows you how bad I was around the greens”. It has made me a better golfer, even if the scores have been disappointing at times.
– Much to his disappointment, Phil Mickelson teed off at 8:55 a.m. EDT on Saturday in the PGA Championship, exactly six hours before the final group of leaders was scheduled to play.
If play doesn’t finish until Monday it would be the second consecutive PGA Championship at Baltusrol to meet that fate.
“The forecast is similar to what it has been the previous two days, with a chance of rain in the afternoon, summer showers”.
But it ended on a happy note for Walker.
But after a 74 in his fi rst round in New Jersey, where he took 35 putts, things did not improve enough as the four-time Major victor missed the final two rounds by just a single shot. “It should yield a few more birdies”. And thanks to Day, he needed it.
Day was also just two shots off the lead at the half-way point in 2015 at Whistling Straits where he famously surged ahead on the weekend to a record 20-under par and maiden major win.
Two weeks ago, Mickelson had a putt for 62 that rimmed out of the cup at Royal Troon in the opening round.
“It was a long day”.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot in golf so this is one more little thing here that I haven’t really experienced before”.
For the second straight major, this became a duel over the final hour. It’s been said that the course “par 4’s you to death” with numerous gruelling two-shotters before players finally reach the only par 5s at Baltusrol at holes Nos.
“I hit a couple of the right shots at the right time when I had opportunities and my average shots didn’t get me in any trouble”.
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Thanks to Walker holding his nerves, it just wasn’t enough.
