A week he will never forget. Danny Walker has experienced one of those life-changing tournaments. With just six events played on the PGA Tour, the 29-year-old makes a statement by finishing sixth at The Players. The curious part of this story is that the American golfer was at TPC Sawgrass as a reserve player, dreaming of the opportunity to play the ‘fifth Major’ for the first time in his career.
However, it was already Thursday, the start day of the tournament, and everything suggested it wouldn’t be this time. A message at eight in the morning changed everything. Jason Day was forced to withdraw just before the start, opening the tournament doors for Walker.
The story has more depth. Just a year ago, Danny was playing on the Korn Ferry Tour when he went to Ponte Vedra to watch the tournament as a fan to support two Virginia University teammates competing in the tournament. There, Walker was asked, and he stated: “I hope that in a year I can be the one playing the tournament.” He earned PGA Tour rights by finishing 28th on the Korn Ferry Tour. Almost at the limit, but not enough to get directly into the fifth Major. At 29, the Bradenton native is experiencing his rookie season in the top division of the American circuit.
Day’s withdrawal gave him access to a spectacular match alongside Jordan Spieth and Wyndham Clark. Quite something. The prize was already significant. However, Walker wanted more. He wasn’t satisfied and managed to make the cut right on the limit thanks to two rounds of 73 and 70 strokes. His caddie acknowledged that it was already a dream to play the weekend.
Saturday saw an unexpected twist. Debut and cut seemed like two great goals achieved for the week, but Danny Walker pulled out a round of 66 strokes, the best score of the day. The challenging conditions on Saturday afternoon made the result even more favourable, and he broke into the tournament’s top ten. He would go out on Sunday in the third-to-last match of the day. Walker didn’t falter in the decisive round and closed the tournament in sixth place with a round of 70 strokes. A true madness that no one could have imagined on Thursday when Day announced he couldn’t compete in the tournament.
The boy who a year ago watched the tournament from outside the ropes secured a spot among the top ten at The Players. Along the way, he also takes a good bite out of the card to try to maintain playing rights on the PGA Tour. What is Danny Walker’s ceiling? Uncertain, no one knows his future, but what we can be sure of is that he will remember this week for the rest of his life.
