Jimmy Walker enjoyed the “surreal” feeling of claiming his first major title after surviving a marathon final day and a stunning late thrust from defending champion Jason Day to win the weather-affected US PGA Championship.
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Jimmy Walker is the victor of the PGA Championship.
Jimmy Walker created history on Sunday as he added his name to just a handful of winners who have held the lead throughout all four rounds of the US PGA Championship. “It’s unbelievable. Things began to click last week and then being able to bring it in this week”.
“I wouldn’t have called this, but it’s huge”, Walker said. Day wasn’t making any excuses, but clearly that’s not the ideal way to go into a major championship.
Day responded by rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt at number 11 to get back to within one shot, only for Walker to stroke home his birdie putt from 30 feet at the same hole to widen the gap back to two strokes. “I felt good about how everything was going, even with the limited preparation going into this week, only playing one practice round, and seeing the course for the first time on Wednesday. I’m having a hard time putting words to it right now”.
Day, trying to join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship in stroke play, came out to the 18th green with his son to watch the finish and quickly found Walker.
“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. “I know exactly how Jimmy feels, because I did exactly that previous year”.
“It’s really quite fun to see how far you can actually push yourself mentally, more so than physically. He’s a very deserving victor”.
Walker’s success did not come easy, earning his first of five PGA Tour victories before today in 2014 at age 35. The last one on the calendar has never had the cachet of the Masters, U.S. Open or British Open. In fact, he didn’t make the weekend in four of his last eight tournaments.
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.
Jutanugarn made a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th to take a two-shot advantage to the final hole.
Better yet: It moves him into position to secure a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
After the win, he celebrated with his wife, Erin Stiegemeier, and gave her a pat on the bottom that was caught by cameras and created a bit of a buzz: Stiegemeier was right by her husband’s side as he won the tournament and held up the trophy in victory.
Persistent heavy rain then left parts of the course flooded before play was finally abandoned for the day shortly before 6pm local time, with a resumption set for 7am on Sunday. As Walker reached the 18th tee box, he knew that all he had to do was par the hole and he would be the newest major champion. “I seemed to make a big key putt, long putt, every day this week”. “I never felt like I brought my “A” game”, said Stenson, who started the final round two shots behind and closed with a 71. “I’m starting to hit the shots again, what I’m visualizing, what I’m seeing and doing it easily now”. That’s a good stretch of golf of those four playoff events and the Ryder Cup.
Meanwhile, Walker’s fellow American Daniel Summerhays finished third on ten under, with Branden Grace, Hideki Matsuyama, and Brooks Koepka joint fourth on nine under.
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Stenson, Martin Kaymer and Robert Streb finished tied seventh at 272 total. That means the old adage about needing experience to win a major is pretty much out the door.
