A marathon Sunday at Baltusrol ends with Jimmy Walker capturing first major win

By
AJ Reilly
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With the rains stopping play at Baltusrol Golf Club on Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m. EST, twelve of the top guys on the leaderboard had to begin their third round, while others in the field moved to finish their already started rounds. This means that for the leaders on the first page of the leaderboard, their Sunday consisted of 36-holes in order to claim their spot in history as a Major Champion.

The PGA rules committee agreed for the first time in the PGA Championship to play “life, clean, place” with preferred lies for the golfers. The players who had not begun their third round were required to play the ball “down”, or as it lay, to keep equity with those who had finished their third round. However, when the final round began at 8:40 a.m., the PGA Rule Committee made history and allowed players to make their ball in the fairway, and place it within a club length no closer to the hole, giving them a preferred lie.

Round 3 Recap

When the third round began again on Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. EST, Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb held the lead at -9. Streb struggled to a third-round score of +2 (72), leaving him -7 for the tournament. However, he still would be paired in the final group due to the suspended play on Saturday and the need to keep the tournament running for a hopeful Sunday finish.

Walker joined him as the final pairing on Sunday after a third-round score of -2, leading defending PGA Champion Jason Day by one stroke. British Open champion Henrik Stenson sat two shots back at -9 along with Brooks Koepka, who’s last start came on June 30th due to an ankle injury.

Round 4 Recap

The final round of this year’s PGA Championship started at 8:40 a.m. EST on Sunday morning. Keeping with the same pairings they had for round three, everyone was chasing Walker as he continued to set the pace throughout the week. Brenden Grace posted the first number of -9 in the clubhouse. However, Walker would not be denied.

After making the turn and having made nine straight pars on the outward holes, Walker hit his approach shot into a greenside bunker on the 10th, then promptly holed out for a birdie, bringing him to -12 on the tournament. He went to -13 under with a long birdie putt on the 11th.

Daniel Summerhays posted a -10, one ahead of Grace, a good score for the leaders to have to look at as they came to the finish. While Jimmy Walker is not a household name, he did begin trending on Twitter during his final nine holes. Although, people were confusing him with the comedian from the 1970s, of the same name, making some feel their age a bit:

Jason Day made a push, hitting the green in two on the 18th and making the putt for eagle putting him within one shot of Walker. Walker made a questionable call going for the green in two, leaving himself short sided, only needing a par to win. Yet, Walker held true, winning wire-to-wire for his first major championship.

You can now add 2016 to that list, and that’s DYNO-MITE.

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