Jimmy Walker became the fourth first-time major winner this season going wire-to-wire to win the PGA Championship on Sunday at Baltusrol Golf Club.
Walker opened with nine straight pars during the final round to stay at 11-under before producing the highlights of his week on back-to-back holes with a 44-foot hole-out from the bunker on No. 10, and a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 11 that drew a fist pump from the six-time TOUR winner.
With Jason Day hanging around for much of the afternoon, Walker closed the door for good on the 17th with a birdie putt from 8 feet to extend the lead to three shots.
Following a two tournament run with a Scotty Cameron Futura X7M mallet putter, Walker returned to his 12-year-old Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS blade at Baltusrol.
The putter is the same one he used to notch two wins during the 2014-15 TOUR season, and top the money list on the 2004 Web.com Tour.
Walker had the putter restored to its original condition and 10-gram tungsten weights added to the sole last year — to provide him with the weight he prefers — at the Scotty Cameron Custom Shop.
“I had won a couple of times with the putter in 2004, but switched to a little heavier putter as my stroke changed over the years and kind of put that one away for a while,” Walker said last season. “I’ve always loved the look of it and asked [Cameron Putter Rep] Kelley Moser to see what could be done to restore it, but also get it to a similar weight to the Scotty I was currently using.”
Walker ranked 10th in strokes gained: putting with the blade, making a handful of critical putts during the final round that allowed the 37-year-old to realize his major championship dream.
Here’s a look at the rest of the equipment in Walker’s bag.
Driver: Titleist 917D2 (UST Mamiya Elements Platinum 7 shaft), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M1 (Alidla Rogue Limited Edition Silver 80TX shaft), 15 degrees
5-wood: Titleist 915Fd (Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 8.2X Tour Spec shaft), 18 degrees
Irons: Titleist 716 MB (3-9; True Temper Dynamic AMT X100 Tour Issue shafts)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM6 (48-08F, 54-08M and 60-04L degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour Issue shafts)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS Prototype
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
