And after Day eagled 18 to close within one stroke, Walker played a solid third shot from the rough near the 18th green, then two-putted in near darkness for his first major title.
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Through it all, Walker didn’t make a bogey over the final 28 holes of his 36-hole day.
The PGA Championship was the most peculiar of all, mainly because of rain delays that led to a 36-hole finish for 10 players (Walker included), and left so much water and mud on the fairways that the PGA allowed players to lift, clean and place their golfs in the short grass. Like Stenson, he produced a steady front nine, before two shots in the trees at hole eleven abruptly ended his hopes. He was the player of the year on the second-division Nationwide Tour in 2004 and spent the next few seasons battling relegation from the PGA Tour. He didn’t really reveal what it was that kind of keyed in his swing and got his game going.
Walker and Sanders actually traveled together on small tours, but in January 2004, Sanders got into a head-on auto accident that knocked him out of his first three tournaments. I wouldn’t trade anything, though. But he kept his cool and kept hitting the right shots at the right time and, most significantly, got the breaks – luck, if you like – when he needed them. And I guess that applies to my career.
“Despite that, I thought I was hanging good”. I didn’t want to keep finishing way down the money-list. I took a hot shower.
“We brought it up earlier in the week and we were hitting balls pretty much in the same spot, so we talked about it a little bit”, Sanders said.
“I tried to give it a good run, played pretty decent but couldn’t get it done”, Day said.
“Yes, that would have been nice, ” Day said. But Jimmy made that putt to have a one shot lead on Jason with one hole to play.
As Walker approached the 18th tee with a three-shot lead, there was more drama to come. “You wouldn’t expect anything less from the best player in the world”. But to no avail.
Arguably the happiest player at Baltusrol was Scotland’s Russell Knox, who completed a 67 just seconds before play was suspended after spotting an official was about to blow the horn and rushing to tap in his par putt on the 18th. Following a steady opening nine where he scored par on every hole, Walker chipped in from the bunker at ten, before sinking a mammoth putt at eleven, enough to eventually win him the trophy by one shot. As CBS commentator Peter Kostis said: “The first sign of pressure is poor decision-making”. Alongside those luxury riders, visitors could take their shot at the “Hole in One Challenge”.
For nine interminable holes, it seemed as if Walker would sleepwalk his way to his first major title without breaking a sweat – or par – and with no one giving serious chase. “It’s surreal”, was Walker’s initial reaction. It was the thing that made me feel like he was a deserving champion. “I’m having a hard time putting words to it now”, Walker told Sky Sports. It was so tough and nerve-wracking out there.
Day, who won the Wanamaker Trophy in record-setting fashion past year at Whistling Straits, applied the pressure with an eagle three at the last hole but had to settle for his 13th top-10 finish from 25 major appearances – and his fourth second prize.
That Walker has finally joined golf’s most exclusive club will come as no surprise to the game’s more observant insiders.
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Normally, two 67’s in the final rounds of a major are enough to walk away the victor, but Day came up just short of the worth champion Walker.
