Six days after blowing a lead, Jimmy Walker blew away the field with a seven-under-par 63 to win the US PGA Tour’s Sony Open for the second straight year.
His fourth career victory was the most impressive of all.
On a Waialae course in Hawaii that lends itself to a free-for-all, American Walker shot 62-63 on the weekend and set a tournament record with a nine-shot victory as he finished at 23-under 257.
Scott Piercy closed with a 66 to finish alone in second.
Matt Kuchar, who started the final round two shots out of the lead, didn’t make a birdie and shot 71 to tie for third with Harris English and Gary Woodland, who each had a 67.
Stuart Appleby (66) and Jason Day (68) were the leading Australians, tied 17th on 270.
But this was Walker’s show, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time.
Walker had a three-shot lead with five holes to play at Kapalua last Monday when he wound up losing to Patrick Reed in a playoff at the Tournament of Champions.
With a quick turnaround, he quickly put it behind him.
“I really wanted to finish out the day like I didn’t do last week,” Walker said.
The decisive moment came at the par-4 eighth hole. Walker and Kuchar both opened with seven straight pars, and Walker stuffed his approach to 3 feet for birdie. Kuchar pulled his tee shot into the royal palms, punched out short of the green and made bogey.
That two-shot swing gave Walker a four-shot lead, and he was on his way.
Walker made all seven of his birdies over the final 11 holes, and he couldn’t miss on the back nine. He took a total of 20 putts on the back nine at Waialae in the third and fourth rounds. And even with a big lead, he kept grinding away over putts he didn’t need to make.