Golf: Walker comes up clutch to clinch win

Jimmy Walker with the trophy after winning the PGA Championship. Photo: Reuters
Jimmy Walker with the trophy after winning the PGA Championship. Photo: Reuters

American Jimmy Walker broke through for his first major title with a one-shot win over Jason Day in the PGA Championship after playing 36 holes at water-logged Baltusrol today.

The 37-year-old Texan calmly canned a three-foot par putt to win wire-to-wire with steely precision, shooting a final-round 67 to finish on 14-under-par 266, but his victory was far from routine.

He had to return to the classic championship course early this morning to play his entire third round after heavy rain and thunderstorms suspended play yesterday, and shot two-under 68 for a one-shot lead going into the final 18.

Walker then had to fend off major winners Day and Henrik Stenson breathing down his neck in the final round, but came out shining with a one-two punch after the turn to set up victory.

Holding a one-shot lead over both world number one and defending champion Day and British Open winner Stenson, Walker holed out from a greenside bunker to birdie the 10th.

Walker then rolled in a left-to-right curling, 30-foot uphill putt for birdie at the 11th to extend his lead to two over Australia's Day. He widened the lead to three with a birdie putt that curled around the lip and in at the 17th.

But Day put on the pressure, reaching the par-five 18th in two. He rolled in the eagle putt for 67 to close the gap to one, as Walker, playing in the final pairing, looked on from back in the fairway.

The American then sprayed his approach into thick rough right of the green before punching his third safely onto the green but 35 feet beyond the hole.

He rolled his first putt three feet past, leaving himself with a testing par putt, which he sank under enormous pressure in the fading light for his first major triumph.

Walker's victory completes a year of first-time major champions, joining Masters champion Danny Willett of England, American US Open winner Dustin Johnson and British Open champion Henrik Stenson.

In third place on 10-under was American Daniel Summerhays, who fired a closing 66, with South African Branden Grace (67), Hideki Matsuyama (68) and American Brooks Koepka (70) another shot back.

With more threatening weather forecast for Sunday, officials set up a marathon Sunday to try and finish the tournament, sending players back out for the final round without re-pairing to save time.

The gamble paid off as the storms held up and the championship was settled.

They also ruled that final-round play would be conducted with preferred lies, given the saturated state of the Baltusrol course and more rain expected.

It marked the first time players in a major championship were allowed to lift, clean and place balls in the fairway.

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