FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, July 31st, 2016

NOTABLE QUOTES: GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP (SUNDAY)

Golf Central Live From the PGA Championship Notable Quotes
98th PGA Championship – Final Round
Sunday, July 31
Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield Township, N.J.

On Jimmy Walker (14-under, winner)
Brandel Chamblee – “This was a victory for patience and perseverance, steady improvement and importance of belief. And that belief can never come too late.”
Frank Nobilo – “To play in the last group of a major championship is pretty hard. And he had a presence that we haven’t seen from Jimmy Walker before. He just kept his nose ahead, and all he had was that little bit of breathing room. But he never, ever yielded it to the field.”
Chamblee – “Victories are made sweeter by the people you beat. And Jimmy Walker beat two of the biggest stories that were so prominent today. Jason Day trying to defend of course and Henrik Stenson at the age of 40 trying to win back-to-back major championships. And the fact that Jimmy Walker came out on a very physically demanding day… This was stellar stuff. That analogy will be drawn many times with a man who’s hobby is looking up toward the heavens. But today we saw a stellar revolution of our own.”
Chamblee – “It’s the control that Jimmy Walker had with his irons that was most impressive today. Lots of power off the tee Jimmy has, no question about it. But coming into the greens he started hitting cut shots, and rode it all day long. He can stray from the fairway from time to time, but towering irons put him in position to make it pretty easy on himself given the fact that everybody in front of him was putting the pressure on.”

Butch Harmon (Jimmy Walker’s swing instructor) speaking with Golf Channel’s Steve Burkowski on recalling the initial phone call he received from Walker 4 years ago
Butch Harmon – “I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t even know who Jimmy Walker was. He called and wanted to know if he could come and have me watch him hit some balls. Which I did, he spent a half a day with me. And I kind of never got back to him. And it was interesting, I was trying to figure out who he was. I was asking friends of mine, ‘Do you know Jimmy Walker? Just tell me something about him.’ And his wife Erin was great. She called me and said, ‘Look, if you don’t want to work with my husband just tell me.’ And I said ‘No, that’s not the case!’

Harmon – “He’s such a wonderful guy. I think that’s why I was so emotional with this win. We’ve become such good friends and I was so happy for him to get this done. But he had been on the Tour for a while, he hadn’t won. He’d won at every level he’d ever played. He was an All-American at Baylor. He won on the Web.com [Tour]. And he got out here and it just didn’t happen. And all of a sudden we just gelled together… We did have to make some mechanical changes. Not a lot. But the big thing was to get him to believe in himself. And I had to push him to believe in how good he could be, which he’s done… What you saw today were the results of a lot of hard work.”

On Jason Day (13-under, 2nd)
Chamblee – “When you start talking about potential, sometimes there’s a negative connotation to that as if it’s gone unfulfilled. But over the last year, all that enormous potential that we’ve been talking about with Jason Day has been fulfilled. Power, great short game and a great attitude. What else do you need in the game of golf besides longevity? He does have that kind of potential to win to win four, five or six major championships. And it’s going to be great fun to watch.”

On Branden Grace (9-under, T-4th)
Chamblee – “He didn’t walk away with this championship because he did struggle on the greens. But he keeps knocking on the door of the biggest events in golf.”
Nobilo – “I think you can put him and [Hideki] Matsuyama in the same class where [they have] a balky, cold putter. Softer greens really didn’t do them any favors. They managed to hit the best shots in, but softer greens meant you’re going to have to make a few more mid-range putts. They did not.”
David Duval – “If you hit it like he does day-in, day-out I don’t think you have to be a great putter. You have to be a good putter, you just don’t have to be great like a Jordan Spieth… You certainly feel like he has that potential. But you only get four chances a year, so when they come around you’ve got to capitalize.”

-NBC Sports Group-