Around the wider world of golf: Ariya Jutanugarn became the first-ever Thai major winner at the RICOH Women's British Open on the LPGA/LET; Stephan Jaeger won the Ellie Mae Classic on the Web.com Tour; Aaron Wise won the inaugural Syncrude Oil Country Championship on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada; Peiyun Chien won the inaugural Kansas City Championship on the Symetra Tour; Prayad Marksaeng won the Maruhan Cup Taiheiyo Club Senior on the Japan Senior Tour; and Chan Shih-chang won the King’s Cup on the Asian Tour.
It was a long wet week at Baltusrol, and a VERY long wet Sunday for the field at the PGA Championship. A number of players -- including Henrik Stenson, Jason Day, Robert Streb and Jimmy Walker -- played 36 holes in the rain and muck. Thankfully for the players, the PGA of America decided this would be the first major ever to play lift, clean and place.
As a result, the winner of the event was neither determined by mudballs nor slowed down by endless rulings. It turned out to be a great move by the PGA, and it resulted in a great shootout to determine the winner of the last major of 2016.
Streb faded early (nothing to be ashamed of, since he hasn't been in this position before). Stenson finally fell victim to an untimely double-bogey on the 15th. But Day and Walker traded blows all the way to the end of the round, when Day eagled the final hole and forced Walker to make a tough up-and-down for par.
Which Jimmy did, giving him his first-ever major and stretching the string of major first-timers to five -- a string started, appropriately enough, with Day himself at the 2015 PGA. It's a commonly-held belief that a first major "opens the floodgates" to more wins... but will there be enough wins to go around for all these first-timers? That should be interesting to watch!
In the meantime, Jimmy made his first major a wire-to-wire win and, despite what must have been going on in his head after a long fatiguing day, kept his swing working smoothly right to the end. As a result, he faces no competition at all as he hoists his first major Limerick Summary:
Though Jimmy led from the beginning,The photo came from this page at usatoday.com.
By 18 his tired mind was spinning!
That eagle from Jason
Sent Jimmy’s heart racing—
But so did the win. See him grinning?
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