The limit asamerican finds his way in links golf

always, the American has one eye on the skies.

An enthusiastic and skilledAstro photographer, Walker’s hobby is training his telescopic camera equipment on the sky at night…it’s just there’s not enough night in Aberdeen in July.

“You get maybe two and a half hours, three hours?” he said. “So there’s not much darkness. If you get clear skies in the winters, I bet it’s an Astro photographer’s dream over here because you can probably image from six at night till six in the morning, maybe even later.”

Walker doesn’t travel with his equipment but got even more interested when the Northern Lights were mentioned.

“I’ll need to watch the solar flare website, see if there’s anything that would hit us,” he said. “I’d really like to see that.”

So far this year Walker has been shooting the lights out on the PGA Tour, a breakthrough season for the 35-year-old, including three wins that have propelled him into a certain chance to return to Scotland when it is likely to be a little cooler – the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in September.

“That’s at the back of my mind,” he said. “There’s a whole lot I’d like to do before we get to that.

“To win three times and jump up there really fast, you have to reprioritise.

“I wanted to play well in the big tournaments and the majors and I’ve done that so far, there’s now a chance to win the FedEx Cup.

“There’s a whole bunch of carrots still dangling out there for me.”

His limited links experience — he made his Open debut last year at Muirfield — means this is a learning process.

“I wouldn’t say what Phil (Mickelson) did last year had much of a bearing on me being here,” he said. “I just learned a lot last year, and this is preparation, I could just use a few more rounds (on links).

“I think if you’re hitting it well, making good shots, putting well, then you play anywhere in the world. I would love to have a chance to compete a week on Sunday.”