Golfer Walker bags maiden major title at PGA Championship

Top-ranked defending champion Jason Day of Australia, only two shots back of United States co-leaders Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb, and British Open champion Henrik Stenson, who sat three adrift, were among those unable to tee off due to unsafe weather.

“It’s surreal”, Walker said.

Day, who had said he was running on empty after illness hit his family just before the tournament, put up a great defence.

“God, just to be in it and be there and have a chance and then to finish it off is so gratifying”.

He had fallen down the world rankings to 48th, had not managed a top-10 in a tournament since the WGC-Cadillac at Doral in March, and had missed the cut in a series of big events, including The Players, the US Open and the British Open.

England’s Danny Willett won the Masters in April, American Dustin Johnson took the US Open in June, while Swede Stenson won the Open two weeks ago. He had not come seriously close to winning over the past year and slipped to No. 48 in the world going into the PGA Championship.

“At the end of the day, on my behalf, the only thing I can do is keep improving, keep getting better, keep doing what I know how to do and then the rest doesn’t really affect that much”. Finished off the round.

Walker parred his first nine holes on the 7,450-yard Lower Course at Baltusrol. Like everything worked, like my head was there. “I had to step up and do something and I hit two good shots with my two-iron”.

That birdie putt looked like missing but the golf gods were on Walker’s side today and he finished with a simple three-foot putt on 18 to finish with a bogey-free round of 67.

Walker held his nerve to par the 18th and secure his first major title by a single shot, leaving Day to reflect on a fourth second place and 13th top-10 finish in 25 major appearances.

Walker endured a nervy finish after Day rolled in an eagle putt at the 18th to trim the deficit to one shot, after Walker had stretched his lead to three strokes with a birdie putt at the 17th.

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.

“Really cool way to finish. Just puts a smile on my face”. It has been a whirlwind.

“I hope so. I think it’s such the right call”, he said. “I kept the hammer down to keep making birdies and keep playing well”.

At the 2000 U.S. Amateur, Walker didn’t qualify for the 64-man match play, but Sanders did and lost in the first round. “We talked about us meeting here and we [told] the story a few times this week”. I knew exactly where I stood. It’s pretty emotional. I mean, he grinded it out this week. He’s sneaky long off the tee and putts great. Didn’t let me hit a shot until I was ready.

But Day made sure it wouldn’t be easy.

The rest, as they say, is history.

We’ve picked out a number of shots from the third and fourth rounds on a marathon Sunday following Saturday’s storms, with Thongchai Jaidee and Adam Scott both contributing brilliant hole-outs from the fairway.

Day is a happy member of the bus buddies club.

As gruelling as the day was, the Australian said he had enjoyed the challenge.

“It’s amusing those 63s are hard to follow sometimes”. Desperate to beat the clock, they sent the third-round pairings right back out for the final round, meaning Walker was playing the third round as others were playing the final round. We see each other all the time. “It’s just a matter of time”.