Jimmy Walker fends off Jason Day charge to win his first Major championship in the US PGA at Baltusrol
JIMMY WALKER completed a full set of first-time Major winners in 2016 as he led from start to finish to land the US PGA Championship.
Walker, 37, followed in the footsteps of Masters champion Danny Willett, US Open winner Dustin Johnson and Open champion Henrik Stenson as he won by one shot from defending champion Jason Day.
It was the first ‘Rookie Grand Slam’ since 2011, when Charl Schwartzel claimed the green jacket at Augusta and Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Keegan Bradley also joined the list of Major winners.
Walker’s triumph also made him the first wire-to-wire USPGA champion since Phil Mickelson in 2005 – also at Baltusrol. This course clearly suits front-runners.
The big-hitting Texan was not exactly one of the form horses coming into this event. He had gone 16 months without a win and missed the cut in four of his last eight starts, including the Open, where he signed off with an ugly 80.
But before that drought he had rattled off five wins in less than 18 months, and was one of the USA’s few success stories when they slumped to a third successive Ryder Cup defeat at Gleneagles.
So American captain Davis Love will have been pleased to see him play his way back onto the team for Hazeltine at the end of next month.
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Walker had to see off the challenge of two current Major champions in Day and Stenson on a day when the leading contenders all had to negotiate 36 holes because of the thunderstorms that wiped out most of Saturday’s play.
But they hardly managed to land a blow in anger until Day's astonishing eagle at the par-five 18th got him to within one stroke.
Yet two moments of brilliance shortly after the run got Walker the victory, and he answered Day’s brilliant approach to the last with a crucial birdie on 17.
There were more thunderstorms forecast on Sunday, but Baltusrol dodged the bullet and avoided the gloomy predictions of another Monday finish.
Walker did not appear to be in any hurry, and it looked like he was trying to take the route Nick Faldo followed when he reeled off 18 straight pars to win the first of his three Open titles at Muirfield in 1987.
The big American made nine in a row, and was somehow still clinging to the once shot lead he took into the final round when he snapped the run in spectacular style.
He pulled his approach shot at the tenth into a greenside bunker, but his delicate splash-out landed a couple of feet from the cup and dived in for a confidence-boosting birdie.
Walker raised his fist to acknowledge the roar that greeted his hole-out, and suddenly he was two clear of the pack.
But Day immediately responded by curling home a twenty footer to trim the lead back to just one - and the back nine battle that is the hallmark of most Majors seemed to be under way.
Walker struck the next blow by holing from thirty feet on the 11th, and all thoughts of a boring plod towards Major glory were forgotten, although he did not have to dip into the magic box again to clinch victory.
Stenson appeared to be biding his time in third place, but a clumsy double bogey derailed his bid, and he eventually had to settle for a share of place.