Walker tops PGA field after 1st round

Walker’s year has been so mediocre that he has finished within five shots of the winner only once this year, at Torrey Pines. He is on the verge of falling out of the top 50 in the world ranking and hasn’t given as much thought to Ryder Cup play with qualifying a month away from ending.

“I’m a good putter,” Walker said. “Like good shooters, just keep shooting. I’m just going to keep putting, and they’re going to start going in.” And they did. Walker wound up with a one-shot lead over two-time major champion Martin Kaymer, Emiliano Grillo and Ross Fisher. Kaymer had the best score in the afternoon, when the blend of poa annua and bent grass on the Baltusrol greens became a little more difficult to navigate.

“I feel like all year it’s just been real stale and stagnant,” Walker said.

“It’s just ebbs and flows of golf. Just haven’t been scoring. … It’s frustrating. I would have loved to have had a better year than I’ve had so far to this point, but I know there’s always time to play well at the end of the year.”

Even with afternoon gusts that approached 20 mph, and the late threat of rain, Baltusrol still allowed for good scoring.

Twenty players were at 68 or better, a list that included defending champion Jason Day.

Jordan Spieth only regrets one hole, the par-4 seventh, when he lost his ball so far to the right he had to chip back into thick rough and wound up three-putting for a double bogey.

That was his lone mistake. He rolled in big putts on the 15th for par, 16th for birdie and closed with a twoputt birdie to get back to even-par 70.

Day played in the morning group with McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, and he was the only player without much stress. Mickelson, just 11 days after that magnificent duel with Stenson at Royal Troon, was 4 over through 11 holes when he rallied with a trio of birdies late in his round to salvage a 71.

“It’s not the start I wanted. It’s not indicative of how I’m playing,” he said.

“But I’m back to where tomorrow, if I play the way I’ve been playing, I should be OK.”