Walker Polishes off Hometown Victory


Jimmy Walker closed with a 2-under 70 to win the Valero Texas Open. The $6.2 million PGA Tour took place on the difficult Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio.

Walker, a 36-year-old from San Antonio, carded five birdies and three bogeys to finish at 11-under 277, four strokes ahead of fellow Texan Jordan Spieth, who also shot a 70. Walker began Sunday with a four-stroke lead over Spieth.

The victory, worth $1.116 million and 500 FedEx Cup points, was Walker's second of the year, making him the Tour's first two-time winner in 2015. He also won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

The win was particularly satisfying for Walker, who lives only 30 minutes from TPC San Antonio. "You can feel the support, you can feel the love from friends and family and fans. It's cool, it just doesn't happen very often winning in your hometown." he said during a brief greenside interview.

"The golf course wasn't giving up much, sometimes it's hard to make pars. I felt like I was leaking a little oil there and I wasn't putting very good. And then I finally smoothed out the putting stroke a little bit and got it back to where it was the first couple of days and started making some," noted Walker of the Greg Norman-designed layout, which proved beguiling all week.

As for Spieth, who played in the final threesome with Walker and Billy Horschel and tried valiantly to catch the leader, Walker added, "Jordan, holy cow. I'm having nightmares about that guy."

Horschel posted a 71 and ended up in solo third at 284, while another stroke back were Daniel Summerhays and Chesson Hadley, who recorded rounds of 69 and 71, respectively.

Tied for sixth at 286 were Dustin Johnson and Ryan Palmer, who each carded 68s. Another stroke back at 287 - and the only other players to finish under par after 72 holes - were Chris Kirk (72) and Scott Pinckney (73).

The win extends Walker's lead in the season-long FedEx Cup points' standings. He'll tee it up next week in the Shell Houston Open, the final tournament before the year's first major. The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia starts April 9.

"All of this just keeps adding momentum and confidence," said Walker. "I'm excited to go [to the Masters]. I've been looking forward to it, and I'm going to head over [to Augusta National] tomorrow and take a look at it again. I'm going to play Houston next week and get ready to go."

For all the scores of the Texas Open, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.