Walker edges Day by 1 shot to claim PGA Championship

American Jimmy Walker survived a marathon final day and held off the determined challenge of defending champion Jason Day to win his first major title in the weather-affected US PGA Championship. “Sometimes a par is tough”, Walker said. I got to go back to my bus.

The American sprayed his approach to 18 into thick rough right of the green before punching his third safely onto the green but 35 feet beyond the hole. “I know exactly how Jimmy feels, because I did exactly that previous year”.

Walker was poised and in control during the fourth round, hitting 16 of 18 greens.

Day responded by rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt at number 11 to get back to within one shot, only for Walker to stroke home his birdie putt from 30 feet at the same hole to widen the gap back to two strokes. The 37-year-old from Oklahoma took the Wanamaker Trophy and the top prize of $1.8 million (1.6 million euros) from a $10 million purse. And then there was Royal Troon, where his 267 was topped only by Henrik Stenson’s 264 in British Open history.

Paired with eventual and first-time PGA champion Jimmy Walker in the third and final rounds on Sunday, Streb started his final round in a three-way tie for fifth place with William McGirt and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. There, the two embraced and shook hands on the course that now will be remembered for more than where two young golfers first crossed paths. Players could clean mud off their balls in low-mown areas and replace them.

In this past weekend’s PGA Championship, Grace finished at nine-under-par to be tied in fourth place along with Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and America’s Brooks Koepka, five shots behind tournament victor Jimmy Walker on 14 under.

FINAL WORD: “You don’t see too many overweight, smoking table tennis players”. Groups kept their third-round pairings for the last round in another time-saving bid.

It was more of the same this weekend at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, with Jimmy Walker parring the 72nd hole of the weekend to beat Jason Day by one stroke. Day, who battled back after bogeys on two of the first three holes, answered with a 22-foot birdie putt at the 11th.

A par was still good enough for Walker to become the eighth wire-to-wire victor of the US PGA – and the first since Phil Mickelson at the same venue in 2005 – and the 37-year-old held his nerve after pitching to 30 feet from right of the green. Day and Walker traded clutch pars from there as the final holes elapsed, Day sinking a clutch 11-foot par putt at 15 to stay two back. Walker, addressing his birdie putt at 17, heard the roar of he crowd and backed off. But Day sank a 14-foot eagle putt at the 18th to reach the clubhouse at 13 under with Walker on the 18th fairway. “He really put it on me to make a par”.

“Sometimes, things just don’t come easy”, Walker said. Nothing in golf comes easy.

Thunderstorms that prevented leaders from starting the third round of the PGA Championship on Saturday set the stage for a weird finish at rain-swamped Baltusrol.

The top five on the roster now look fairly safe, but there still remains a very tight race in the points between spots six and 15 with just a few tournaments to play.

“I feel I’m progressing pretty nicely”, said Grace. But I can’t be disappointed. He is a major champion, completing a sweep of first-time winners in the majors this year.

Robert Streb (69), co-leader with Walker after 36 holes, finished at -8 alongside Stenson and 2010 victor Martin Kaymer (66) of Germany.