‘Awesome’ victory for Walker

JIMMY Walker enjoyed the “surreal” feeling of claiming his first major title after surviving a marathon final day and a stunning late thrust from defending champion Jason Day t o win t he weather-affected US PGA Championship.

Walker carded a closing 67 at Baltusrol to finish 14-under-par, one shot ahead of Day after the world No 1 eagled the final hole to pile on the pressure.

A par was still good enough f or Walker t o become the eighth wireto-wire winner of t he 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.

Afterwards, a delighted Walker admitted: “It’s amazing, surreal. I said when I birdied 17 that would probably end it — but sometimes things just don’t come easy.

“Jason is a true champion — eagle on 18, that’s unreal.

“That really put it on me to make a par and pars are hard sometimes. But we got it.”

Walker said he had briefly contemplated laying up on the par-five eighteenth before opting to try to reach the green.

He said: “I figured 19 times out of 20 you are going to make a five going for the green from right there.

“I literally hit it in the worst place you could hit it and ended up having to make a little tester coming in and just buried it. It was awesome.”

Runner-up Day said: “Jimmy played great all week and is a deserving winner.”

Jimmy Walker