PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Danny Walker’s magical week took one more memorable flip Saturday on the Gamers Championship.
The 29-year-old Jacksonville, Fla., resident was the primary alternate into the sector at TPC Sawgrass and bought the decision early Thursday morning that he had a spot after Jason Day withdrew with an sickness.
A good opening spherical changed into a sketchy second spherical. The third spherical was a lot better.
Walker shot a 6-under-par 66 on Saturday, paired with former British Open champion Shane Lowry.
Walker went from final place amongst those that made the minimize, with the primary tee time of the day to now being tied for eighth within the event at 7-under par, trailing chief JJ Spaun by 5 strokes.
He’ll enter the ultimate spherical simply 4 photographs off the lead.
“It’s at all times a little bit disturbing if you’re proper on the minimize line, and when you make the weekend it’s straightforward to free it up since you don’t have something to lose,’’ Walker stated after his spherical. “I can’t go backwards. You’ll be able to solely transfer forwards at that time.’’
It’s been a curler coaster of emotion for Walker, who stated he was truly in a bathroom stall when the decision got here in from the PGA Tour official.
He went out to his automobile within the gamers car parking zone after he bought the decision telling him he was within the area and quietly shed a tear.
Walker shot a 1-over-par 73 within the opening spherical after which issues bought attention-grabbing within the second spherical Friday.
He was cruising alongside at 4-under par in his second spherical, standing at 3-under for the event and seemingly safely contained in the minimize line.
Walker then bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18 to shut at 1-under par for the event.
His rimmed out a brief par putt on 18 for the bogey. With the minimize line then at 2-under par, it regarded like a nightmarish end.
Fortunately, the minimize later moved to 1-under and Walker was in for the weekend.
This whole week is a giant step ahead for Walker, who’s taking part in in solely his sixth PGA Tour occasion.
He’s 284th on the planet rankings and has $684,667 in profession earnings — a quantity he can eclipse Sunday with a excessive end.
Fairly good for a participant who briefly gave up on his PGA Tour dream in 2022 when he took a job as a server at a bar-restaurant known as Bahama Breeze.
“I’ve wished to play this occasion my entire life, particularly just like the final a number of years dwelling in Jacksonville,’’ Walker stated. “This appears like my hometown occasion in lots of methods. Particularly watching it final yr, watching a few of my pals play, I simply wished to get on this yr a lot.
“Then truly getting in, it’s simply an accomplishment of a objective. A giant objective.’’
Walker moved to Jacksonville throughout his first yr on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 after ending faculty on the College of Virginia.
“I simply wished to seek out the most effective place for me to apply and get higher, and this appeared just like the place to go, particularly with every little thing being free out right here,’’ he stated, referring to PGA Tour and Korn Ferry gamers getting access to the TPC amenities.
Walker estimated that he’d performed the TPC Sawgrass Stadium course some 100 instances earlier than he bought into the sector Thursday.
He known as being paired with Lowry, a significant champion, “a little bit surreal.’’
On Sunday, it’ll get extra surreal as a result of he’ll be paired with Rory McIlroy within the ultimate spherical and he’ll achieve this whereas in competition to win.
“I had by no means met any of these guys, so it was good simply to fulfill them and get that out of the way in which,’’ he stated of the numerous stars on this area. “It was like, ‘OK, now we can go play golf.’ The primary gap or so, I used to be fairly nervous after which was capable of finding some rhythm after that.’’
