Jimmy Walker captures PGA Championship for first major title

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. —  Texan Jimmy Walker was just moseying along Sunday afternoon, looking at ease despite his name resting atop the leaderboard on the final day of the 98th PGA Championship and world No. 1 Jason Day and reigning British Open champion Henrik Stenson on his heels.

The chaotic week full of storms, delays and odd decisions by tournament officials was behind Walker and the weight of trying to win his first major title wasn’t an issue. With nine pars to open his final 18 at waterlogged and muddyBaltusrol Golf Club, a comfortable, confident Walker was right where he started – winning the tournament and the battle with his nerves.

Then he delivered, fittingly enough, two lightning bolts that gave him breathing room on the back nine. And then one last par at the end got his name etched onto the Wanamaker Trophy and into history.

Walker’s first bolt came when he holed a bunker shot for birdie from 15 yards on the 10th, the second when he knocked in a 30-footer for birdie on the 11th. The burst of red numbers gave him a 2-shot advantage, and a huge birdie from 8 feet on the 17th made it 3 with one hole to play.

But with Day playing in the group ahead, Walker watched his nearest foe make an eagle from 13 feet on the par-5 final hole. Walker, now forced to make a par for the victory, left his second shot short and right in heavy, wet rough.

Walker didn’t buckle. With Day looking on, Walker chipped to 34 feet and two-putted from there, the last stroke from three feet, to close out a bogey-free, 3-under-par 67 to finish at 14 under and topple Day by one shot to win his first major championship.

“Sometimes things just don’t come easy,” said Walker, 37, who along with others was forced to play 36 holes because of a weather delay Saturday. “Sometimes pars are hard but we got that one. There’s a lot of emotion going on out there, I’m not going to lie to you. It was a battle all day long. There was nothing easy about the day, really about the week, for that matter, especially coming down the last hole.

“ … I felt confident. I felt confident in myself. I felt confident in what I was doing. Felt confident in my golf swing, my putting, my chipping. Kind of tried to wrap myself around that; that everything was feeling good, and to go with that and trust what I was doing. Trust all the stuff that I have been working on, and that's what I tried to apply out there.”

Walker is the first to go wire-to-wire to win the PGA since Phil Mickelson did just that at Baltusrol in 2005. Walker, who shot 65-66-68-67, is the fifth consecutive first-time winner in a major.

Day started the first-timer streak with his maiden major in last year’s PGA Championship. The Aussie was right there at the end despite a week of chaos, disorder and madness in which he was sick, he had to rush his wife, Ellie, to the hospital after she suffered an allergic reaction (she’s OK) and he played only one practice round.

“Obviously Jimmy just played too good all day,” said Day, who shot 68-65-67-67. “The birdie on 17 was key for him. Yeah, a little disappointed, but you know what, at the end of the day, I came in here with not the greatest preparation. I'm very, very happy with how I played all week.

“And I know exactly how Jimmy feels, because I did exactly that last year. So it was actually quite nice to be able to see him celebrate with his family and friends there. He's a very deserving winner. So hats off to him, because I mean, it's not easy to win tournaments, and he controlled himself pretty darn well all day. I was very happy with the defense. But at the end of the day, it wasn't good enough.”

Daniel Summerhays shot 66 to finish at 10 under and in solo third. The finish earned him an invitation to next year’s Masters. Branden Grace (67), Hideki Matsuyama (68) and Brooks Koepka (70) tied for fourth at 9 under.

Stenson was done in with a double-bogey 6 on the 15th and finished in a tie for seventh. Jordan Spieth, who won two majors and finished in the top-4 in all four last year, closed with a 68 to finish in a tie for 13th.

Everything felt a bit off once the championship hit the weekend but Walker never looked one bit agitated. Tournament officials were criticized Saturday for not moving up tee times and using both the first and 10th tees after hazardous weather ended play at 2:14 p.m., which set up an unusual Sunday.

First, the grounds crew arrived at 3 a.m. to ready this otherwise pristine Garden State real estate that had turned into a spongy mess. Because of the lost playing time from Saturday, the final round started one hour after the leaders teed off in the third round. There was no repairing for the final round. And considering the conditions of the course and eyeing the forecast, officials instituted preferred lies for the final 18, believed to be a first time in a major championship the players were able to lift, clean and place their ball.

When the delayed third round was finished on a glum morning where umbrellas lined the fairways, Walker signed for 68 to move to 11 under through 54 holes and one shot clear of Day (67). Another shot back was Koepka (66) and Stenson (67).

No one caught Walker in the fourth round.

Walker, who will move up from No. 48 to inside the top 15 in the world rankings and moved to fourth in the Ryder Cup standings, didn’t win in his first 187 PGA Tour starts. But he won five titles from 2013-15 and was a weekly contender. But he was struggling coming into the PGA, winless in his last 36 starts, including missed cuts in the U.S. Open and British Open.

But the man who loves gazing at the stars and photographing galaxies and nebulae light years away never looked to the heavens during his struggles. Instead, the man who discovers art in the colors and shapes in the skies far, far away rediscovered his game in the dirt.

“I feel like, just kind of all year, I would take a step forward, two back, step back, two steps back, three steps forward, step back. I've been just kind of like in limbo,” Walker said. “But I felt like last week, I saw something. It felt good. We worked on a knee move. Working on my overall attitude on the golf course. … I knew it was close.”

And now swing coach Butch Harmon gets to open a bottle of $1,200 Chateau Margaux that Walker gave him when Harmon refused payment for the first series of lessons when the two started working together. Harmon vowed to not open the bottle until Walker won a major.