In the end, all of the drama was inside the ropes.
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Walker, 37, finished at 14-under-par 268 after a final-round 67.
There wasn’t a lot of wiggle room.
“I’m just really happy to finish birdie, birdie in both rounds today and post a decent score”. “I wouldn’t have called this, but it’s huge”. With his third-place finish, Summerhays (89 in the world) earned a spot in the next year’s Masters.
And somehow he managed a bogey-free round.
“It was a battle the whole day”, said Walker, a five-time victor on the USA tour. “But he’s handled himself pretty good”.
The stress level increased exponentially as the daylight began to fade.
“I didn’t bring my game and I didn’t make a putt all day, I felt like”.
“I literally hit it in the worst place you could hit it”, Walker said.
He had to get down in three from the right of the 18th green.
In an instant, the grandstand spectators were up roaring.
Walker’s consistency didn’t allow Day to apply any real pressure, at least through the first 17 holes. He did all he could and it just wasn’t enough.
He looked unflappable for most of the final round, until defending champion Day rocked Baltusrol with an electrifying final-hole three. I mean, it really is.
Jason Day reacts to missing a putt on the 18th.
Day, meanwhile, would have preferred to make that eagle with Walker walking alongside.
“I was just trying to get it near the hole, give myself a chance”, said Day. The final birdie on the 17th was the most important because he had a cushion.
Walker did not have an opportunity to bask in the glory.
“I’ve been with him through it, I know he’s been struggling and it’s been a hard fight”, said Fowler, who tied for 33rd. “Day is a great champion and I wouldn’t expect anything else – eagle at the last”. I knew what was going on.
He’s the best player in the world by a long stretch and the closest thing to Tiger Woods since golf’s most dominating player backed into a fire hydrant seven years ago.
Then again, there is no defense for soft greens.
Walker sent his second shot into the right rough but lofted his third onto the green 23 feet from the cup. “You make par 19 out of 20 times”. His first putt carried some speed and drifted three feet by the hole leaving a putt nobody wants to have with a major championship on the line. The next putt was dead center. When Walker sealed the major, making par on 18 with a short putt, Day nodded his head in acknowledgment and waited to congratulate Walker, a friend of his. “Still got to play 36 holes, see how many we get in”.
It didn’t help that Stenson was unable to play any of the third round on Saturday, which was suspended due to heavy rain and unsafe conditions. He immediately followed with a birdie at 11 to reach 13 under.
Robert Streb, whose 63 on Friday tied the lowest round in any major, shot 72 and 69 to finish six strokes back.
“It would have been nice”, Day said. “Just we were in sync”. That meant that a ball that landed in a closely mown area through the green could be lifted and cleaned, then placed back on the ground within a club length (as long as it wasn’t nearer to the hole). This is the first time where I’m excited to play all four FedEx Cup events.
“There was nothing easy about the day – really about the week, for that matter”. He traded two birdies and two bogeys on his last eight holes.
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The top-ranked Australian won his first career major at last year’s PGA Championship, claiming a three-shot victory over Jordan Spieth at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.
