Walker holds off Day to win PGA Championship

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. – The forecast electricity in the air that could have delayed the PGA Championship's finish until Monday — or even Tuesday — never materialized during a marathon Sunday, when Jimmy Walker celebrated his first major title with champagne.

That is, it didn't materialize, unless you count Walker's holed shot from a greenside bunker midway through his final round that reverberated around Baltusrol's far, back corner; or unless you count his winning 3-foot par putt on No. 18 that finally trumped defending champion Jason Day in a two-man tussle.

The 37-year-old Walker followed that holed bunker shot at the par-4 10th hole with another birdie at the par-4 11th, and he held on from there, turning a three-shot lead on the 18th hole into a one-shot victory after Day had made a dramatic eagle on the par-5 hole in the group just ahead of him.

"It's cool that he did what he did to make me do what I had to do," said Walker, previously a five-time PGA Tour winner whose last victory was at home in San Antonio in 2015.

His PGA victory means all four majors had first-time major winners, the first time that's happened since 2011. England's Danny Willett won the Masters, American Dustin Johnson broke through at the U.S. Open after so many almosts and Sweden's Henrik Stenson won his first at age 40, outdueling Phil Mickelson at the British Open.

Walker won wire-to-wire just as Mickelson did in the 2005 PGA at Baltusrol. Walker also picked up double Ryder Cup points, enough to move from 29th in the U.S. standings all the way to fourth, essentially guaranteeing him a return trip to the event he said two years ago in Scotland he never wants to miss again.

The top eight on the points list after the Barclays tournament a month from now qualify for the event at Hazeltine National.

When asked if he now deserves a place on the team for such a victory, Walker said: "I have no idea. I don't know when it shuts off. … It's cool. That's a byproduct of playing good golf. I know the majors are worth more. If I make the team, I'm honored. It's a really fun week."

The just-completed week at Baltusrol was a really long week for all involved. It started stifling hot, humid and stormy; turned drenched on a rain-delayed Saturday; and included a 7 a.m. start for all 86 remaining golfers on Sunday, when more than half the field played 36 holes to avoid a Monday finish.

Walker persevered, using his holed bunker shot as springboard. Until then, he had made nine consecutive pars. After it, he ran off a 3-under 33 on the back nine for a 67 that just kept Day and his own 67 away.

"I wasn't expecting to make it," Walker said. "I was trying to get it close, trying to get up and down … It just went in. It was huge. It just felt like that got everything going."

Walker's final birdie at 17 answered the crowd's roar that told him Day had reached the par-5 finishing hole in only two shots. What had been a two-shot lead suddenly was three, and Day flipped his putter and dropped his shoulders when the Australian climbed toward the 18th green and saw Walker had just made another birdie behind him.

So Day answered back with an eagle putt in a battle between friends who travel the PGA Tour each in his own luxury bus.

"We're always parked right next to each other, always hanging out," Day said. "All the major championships, we see each other all the time. So you know, obviously he's a top bloke."

Walker played it safe off the tee at 18, but boldly on his second shot, which landed into deep greenside rough right of a bunker. His pitch got within 33 feet and he two-putted from there for his winning par.

If it had been a normal Sunday, Day and Walker would have played together in the final group. But PGA of America didn't re-pair the field after the third round in order to get two rounds done in one day.

"It would have been nice to play in the last group with him, just to be able to go back and forth," Day said. "Maybe put a little more pressure on. But we all understand we were just trying to get the championship in."

Day, Rickie Fowler and fellow Texan Jordan Spieth all waited beyond the 18th green to congratulate Walker, who hugged caddie Andy Sanders in an emotional embrace. Walker and Sanders first met when they were competitors at Baltusrol in the 2000 U.S. Amateur, a year before Walker turned pro.

"We've been together a long time," Walker said. "And to win our sixth event, first major here where we met, that's cool … I think it's special for both of us. It's pretty emotional."

Four years ago, Walker sent swing coach Butch Harmon an $800-plus bottle of wine as a thank you for some free range tips before the two officially began working together, a relationship that helped turn Walker's career around. CBS reported Harmon saved it for Walker's first major victory.

"I think that's a question for Butch," Walker said when asked if the wine remains unopened. "I gave it to him and if he drank it, that's on him. But I've got another one at home."