The PGA Championship may not have provided the thrills and chills of the Phil Mickelson-Henrik Stenson epic duel just two weeks earlier at the British Open, but that it held viewers in thrall for most of the leaders’ back nine was something of a coup. “I gave it to him, and if he drank it, that’s on him”, Walker said, pausing as his smile widened. “It’s wonderful. Things began to click last week and then being able to bring it in this week”.
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Because the PGA Championship never really had a chance to be anything other than an afterthought in the scheme of major tournaments.
“I wouldn’t have called this, but it’s huge”, Walker said. “I kept the hammer down to keep making birdies and keep playing well”. His first putt ran three feet past the hole but he sank the nerve-jangler to become a major champion.
But then Day rolled in a 14-foot eagle putt to close the deficit to one and Walker then hit his second shot into greenside rough. “Jason really put it on me to make par”. “It feels sweet. It’s incredible”. “It feels sweet. I haven’t been playing that well but I felt something click last week”. “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”.
Day applied the pressure with an eagle on the 18th hole.
“Me and him have been like bus partners for awhile now”, Day said. ‘I haven’t played as well as I would have liked to. It was fun. Jimmy (Walker) played great.
A victor who came out of the blue even though Walker is ranked 48th in the world and has five PGA Tour victories. What’s more, after Henrik Stenson’s win at the British Open earlier in July, the 37-year-old Walker becomes the second major victor this year older than 35.
But he was superb this week to get the Wanamaker Trophy.
Walker’s win booked a second consecutive appearance in the Ryder Cup and completed a clean sweep of 2016 majors by first-time winners after Danny Willett (Masters), Dustin Johnson (US Open) and Henrik Stenson (Open Championship).
He is virtually a lock now to be on the Ryder Cup team. At the end of third round, he led Day by one and that’s how the final score stayed as both carded 67 each. “I never felt like I brought my “A” game”, said Stenson, who started the final round two shots behind and closed with a 71.
“It was a battle the whole day”, said Walker, a five-time victor on the USA tour.
“I said when I birdied 17 that’d probably end it”.
Since Walker only needed a par five to win, if I would have been him I think I would have hit an iron club to lay up safely short of the green. In fact, it is the first season since 2011 that all four of the year’s majors have been claimed by first-time winners. He arrived at the US PGA little more than a week after winning the Open, and it is very hard to maintain that level of concentration.
Day came quite close at different positions this week, brushing Baltusrol aside with seven birdies in eight holes on Friday.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia, long on the list of “best players yet to win a major”, blamed the media for all the hoopla over the Big Three. But he shot 66-70 on Sunday and tied for fourth, moving up to No. 5.
Walker already was looking ahead after his exhausting win.
I interviewed him after his first round at Baltusrol, when he finished with an impressive 1 under par 69, which, while under par, was certainly not “subpar!”
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