Jimmy Walker continued the 2016 trend of first time major winners at the PGA Championship today with his one shot victory over defending champ Jason Day.
Danny Willett started the season with his Masters win and Dustin Johnson captured the U.S. Open for his first major. Just two weeks ago Henrik Stenson dazzled at the Open Championship and today Walker made it a quartet of first time major winners.
The last time we saw all four majors go to first time winners was 2003. Mike Weir won at The Masters and Jim Furyk followed at the U.S. Open. The Claret Jug went to Ben Curtis and the PGA was claimed by Shaun Micheel. None of the 2003 winners have been able to claim another major. This year’s winners certainly hope that trend doesn’t continue.
Walker, and the other leaders needed to play 36 holes today due to the rain delay on Saturday but Walker didn’t let the long, stressful day get to him.
He had a shaky start with bogeys at three and four but managed a birdie on six before another bogey on eight sent him to the turn with a two over 36. But then he hit his stride as he played a flawless back nine in four under 32 for a solid 68 which got him to eleven under and a one shot lead over Day as the final round started.
The final round played out a bit odd as the players were not able to re-pair and played with their third round partners. As it was the two main contenders played within sight of each other as Day played directly in front of Walker who was in the final pairing.
Walker looked to be doing his best Nick Faldo imitation during the front nine as he ripped off nine straight pars. As contenders Henrik Stenson, Branden Grace and Day tried to mount a charge Walker seemed indifferent to any pressure and then he found himself bunkered on the tenth hole.
A bogey there would be his first in nineteen holes. But it was there that Walker started his march to the Wanamaker Trophy. Instead of bogey he launched a perfect sand shot on the green and it rolled in the hole for a birdie. From bogey to birdie in a flash and he was instantly energized.
On the next hole, the par three eleventh hole he kept it going with a thirty foot birdie putt to get to thirteen under and separate himself from his competitors.
As Stenson and Grace faded Day kept hanging around and then things got interesting.
With a two stroke lead on Day, Walker stood over his birdie putt on the seventeenth green only to have to back off due to the cheers for Day’s monster iron approach on the the par five eighteenth. Day’s ball settled fifteen feet from the hole and he was looking at a manageable eagle putt.
Walker settled down, stepped up and canned his birdie putt. The lead was three. But the fireworks were yet to come.
As Day surveyed his putt Walker teed off on the last with an iron and stood in the fairway as the largest cheer of the day echoed down on him. Like a true defending champion should, Day had holed his eagle putt to close the gap to one stroke.
Walker opted to play a three wood hoping that even a poor shot would finish in a bunker or have a relatively easy chip. As he said later, ”I hit it in the absolute worst spot.” He had pushed his fairway wood right into deep rough outside the greenside bunker. It could have been his downfall. Chipping from deep rough to ensure a two putt for your first major championship is enough to test any golfer.
But Walker showed his mettle as he lofted his shot well past the bunker to the safe part of the green. With Day and millions looking on he snuggled his first putt to four feet and after a deep breath he rolled his par putt in.
A bogey free final round 67, a one shot victory over the world’s number one golfer and his first major championship made this rainy day in New Jersey a very special one for the 37 year old Walker.
Jimmy Walker is one of those players that came out of nowhere a few years back. After playing his first full seven years on the tour he was winless. But in 20014 he broke out for three wins and made the Ryder Cup Team. Then in 2015 he won another two and played on the Presidents Cup. His success can be traced back when he started working with Butch Harmon.
Through hard work and with Harmon’s help Walker hoisted his first major trophy today. And it wasn’t an easy path. But definitely a rewarding one.
“Sometimes, things just don’t come easy,” Walker said with the Wanamaker Trophy by his side. “He (Day) really put it on me to make a par. Sometimes pars are hard. But we got it.”
“It was amazing,” he said. “It was a battle all day.”
Now Walker, Willett, Johnson and Stenson have a challenge ahead of them: win another major. They don’t want a repeat of the class of 2003.
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