Walker hangs on to win Pebble Beach

Tuesday, 11 February 2014 00:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Jimmy Walker did it the hard way, almost squandering a huge lead before registering a nervous one-stroke victory to continue his hot start to the season at the $ 6.6 million Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday. Walker began the day with a six-stroke lead but he made hard work of it with consecutive bogeys at the 12th and 13th holes that opened the door to his rivals at Pebble Beach. He steadied the ship down the stretch for the most part, hitting a series of precise shots, before a three-putt bogey at the penultimate hole left him with a tenuous one-stroke lead going to the par-five 18th. But Walker managed a nervous par, sinking a five-footer to stagger across the finish line with the victory after running his first putt past the hole. “I hate three-putting,” Walker told the Golf Channel. “I had a couple but managed not to do it on the last hole. I made a really good putt. “I tried to blank everything out that was going on, tried to go about it as businesslike as possible.” He carded a two-over 74 to finish at 11-under-par 276, with fellow Americans Dustin Johnson (66) and Jim Renner (67) equal second on 10 under par. It was Walker’s third victory in eight starts at the start of the season - a feat achieved since 1995 only by Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and David Duval, according to the PGA Tour. The 35-year-old from Oklahoma collected nearly $1.2 million to increase his lead on the PGA Tour money list with more than $3.6 million and his lead in the FedEx Cup points standings.