Jimmy Walker
Walker in 2016
Personal information
Full name	James William Walker
Born	(1979-01-16)January 16, 1979 (age 47) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg; 13 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Residence	Boerne, Texas, U.S.
Spouse	Erin Stiegemeier
Children	2
Career
College	Baylor University
Turned professional	2001
Current tour	PGA Tour
Former tours	Nationwide Tour Gateway Tour
Professional wins	11
Highestranking	10 (March 29, 2015)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	6
European Tour	1
Korn Ferry Tour	3
Other	2
Best results in major championships (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	T8:2014
PGA Championship	Won:2016
U.S. Open	T9:2014
The Open Championship	T26: 2014
Achievements and awards
Nationwide Tour money list winner 2004 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year 2004
Signature

James William Walker (born January 16, 1979) is an Americanprofessional golfer who plays on thePGA Tour. After playing in 187 events without a win on the PGA Tour, Walker won three times in the first eight events of the2014 season. He is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour and in2016 won his first major title at thePGA Championship.

Born inOklahoma City, Walker and his family later moved toTexas to theSan Antonio area, and he graduated fromCanyon High School inNew Braunfels in 1997. He played college golf atBaylor University inWaco, Texas and turned professional at age 22 in 2001.^[2]

This section of abiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Jimmy Walker" golfer – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Walker played on theNationwide Tour full-time in2003 and2004. In 2004, he won the first two professional events of his career at theBellSouth Panama Championship and theChitimacha Louisiana Open. Walker ended the 2004 season as the Nationwide Tour's leading money winner and won Player of the Year honors, while in the process earning his PGA Tour card for the first time.

Walker only played in nine PGA Tour events in2005 due to injury, making three cuts and a best finish of 17th at the MCI Heritage. He played his first full season on the PGA Tour in2006, where he played in 21 events. Walker made nine cuts and had one top-25 finish. He ended the season 202nd on the money list, which was not enough to retain his playing rights. Walker went back to the Nationwide Tour in2007, where he added a third title to his name at theNational Mining Association Pete Dye Classic and finished in 25th place on the Nationwide Tour's money list, which qualified him for a PGA Tour card for the2008 season. Again, Walker endured a difficult season, making 13 cuts in 24 events, with three top-25 finishes. He ended the year 192nd on the FedEx Cup Standings and entered the year end Q-school to try to regain his card. He finished in a tie for 11th, which was enough to regain his card for the2009 season.

Walker fared better in 2009, where he recorded his first two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including a T5 at theTurning Stone Resort Championship. Walker finished the 2009 season ranked 125th on the money list, securing the last available tour card for the next season. In2010, Walker made less than half of the cuts he played in, but had a T3 and T4 finish to boost his season's placing. He finished 2010 ranked 103rd on the money list. In2011, Walker enjoyed his best season to that point, helped by three 4th/T4 finishes throughout the season. He was 68th in theFedEx Cup standings and qualified for the third FedEx Cup playoff event, theBMW Championship, for the first time. Walker followed up a solid 2011 season with another good year in2012. He finished the year 43rd in the FedEx Cup standings, with six top-10 finishes. Walker started to develop a consistent game on the PGA Tour, evidenced when he made 25 consecutive cuts from the 2012John Deere Classic to the 2013Memorial Tournament. During this run, Walker had finishes of T2, T3, and T4 as he finished the2013 season with over $2 million in tour earnings.

The2014 season was the first to begin with six events in the fall of 2013. In the first of these, Walker won his first PGA Tour event at the2013Frys.com Open, after nine years and 188 PGA Tour starts. He won by two strokes overVijay Singh after shooting 62–66 over the weekend. The win gave him an exemption into theHyundai Tournament of Champions, and earned him his first trip to theMasters Tournament and a PGA Tour card until the end of 2016. Walker also entered the world's top 50 for the first time.^[3]

Walker opened up 2014 finishing T21 at his first visit to the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The following week, he earned his second PGA Tour win at theSony Open in Hawaii. He birdied four of the final six holes and shot a final round 63 to win by one stroke overChris Kirk.^[4]

Five weeks later, in early February 2014, Walker won theAT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by one stroke overDustin Johnson andJim Renner. He had a six-stroke advantage going into the final round, but shot a two-over-par 74 on Sunday and needed to hole a five-foot par putt on the 18th for the victory.^[5] This was his third victory of the 2014 season in just eight starts, after previously going 187 events without a victory. With his win, Walker became the leader on the 2014 money list, FedExCup standings, and Ryder Cup points standings. He also raised hisOfficial World Golf Ranking to 24th.^[6][7] A T8 finish at the2014 Masters Tournament raised his ranking to 19th, and ensured him an invitation into the 2015 tournament. He went on to post top-ten finishes at two other majors, a T9 at the2014 U.S. Open, and a T7 the2014 PGA Championship.^[8] His highly successful season earned him a spot on the2014 Ryder Cup, another personal first.^[9] Walker went as high as 17th in the OWGR during the 2014 season.

In January 2015, Walker lost in a sudden-death playoff at theHyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii toPatrick Reed. After finishing at 21-under-par in regulation play, Walker was beaten by a Reed birdie on the first extra hole.^[10] The following week on tour, Walker defended hisSony Open in Hawaii title with a nine-stroke victory after a final round 63. It was Walker's fourth career PGA Tour victory and it moved him 13th in the OWGR. In March 2015, Walker earned his fifth PGA Tour win and second of the season at theValero Texas Open with a four-stroke victory overJordan Spieth. Residing inSan Antonio, this meant Walker had claimed victory in his hometown event. The win moved Walker into the world's top 10 for the first time and took him to the top of the FedEx Cup standings. In May 2015, Walker tied for second place at theAT&T Byron Nelson. For the season, Walker had two victories and two second-place finishes, putting him in the top-10 on the PGA Tour money list for the second year in a row.

At the2016 PGA Championship atBaltusrol Golf Club, Walker shot a 65 in the first round to hold the lead by one stroke. This represented the first time that he had ever led a major in his career. He followed this with a 66 in the second round for a 9-under total and share of the halfway lead withRobert Streb. After a washout on Saturday, Walker shot a third round 68 on Sunday morning, finishing with a birdie on the 18th hole to take the 54-hole lead by one stroke. Sunday evening saw Walker shoot a bogey-free round of 67 to capture his first major championship, winning by one stroke overJason Day, who after eagleing the 18th hole forced Walker to make par for the championship. Walker, in his third shot, played a safe approach from the rough to the green, taking two putts to make par and maintain his 1-shot lead for his first major title.^[11]

Walker ended the 2021–22 season 59th in earnings, but he moved up to 50th after the PGA Tour removedLIV Golf players from the rankings. After considering retirement in 2022, Walker is playing the 2022–23 season using a career earnings exemption.

Walker is married to the former Erin Stiegemeier, whom he met while she served as a volunteer at a 2004 Nationwide Tour event.^[12] His wife is a nationally ranked show jumper^[13] and they have two sons. Walker is also an avid astrophotographer, his photos have been featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).^[14] His home golf course is San Antonio Country Club inSan Antonio, Texas, where he has the current course record of 61 (-11).

In April 2017, Walker revealed that he had contracted Lyme disease.^[15]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Oct 13,2013	Frys.com Open	70-69-62-66=267	−17	2 strokes	Vijay Singh
2	Jan 12,2014	Sony Open in Hawaii	66-67-67-63=263	−17	1 stroke	Chris Kirk
3	Feb 9, 2014	AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am	66-69-67-74=276	−11	1 stroke	Dustin Johnson,Jim Renner
4	Jan 18,2015	Sony Open in Hawaii (2)	66-66-62-63=257	−23	9 strokes	Scott Piercy
5	Mar 29, 2015	Valero Texas Open	71-67-69-70=277	−11	4 strokes	Jordan Spieth
6	Jul 31,2016	PGA Championship	65-66-68-67=266	−14	1 stroke	Jason Day

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2015	Hyundai Tournament of Champions	Patrick Reed	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Feb 8,2004	BellSouth Panama Championship	65-69-70-69=273	−7	5 strokes	Tom Scherrer
2	Mar 28, 2004	Chitimacha Louisiana Open	69-64-74-65=272	−16	1 stroke	Rick Price
3	Aug 26,2007	National Mining Association Pete Dye Classic	68-70-68-67=273	−15	1 stroke	Justin Hicks,Matt Jones

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	Apr 7,2002	Scottsdale Swing at Eagle Mountain	66-65-64-66=261	−27	2 strokes	Derek Gillespie

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Jul 11,2002	Dawson Companies Challenge	64-69-73=206	−10	1 stroke	Brian Kontak,Michael Walton

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
2016	PGA Championship	1 shot lead	−14 (65-66-68-67=266)	1 stroke	Jason Day

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due toCOVID-19 pandemic

• Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2014 Masters – 2015 Open)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2014 Masters – 2014 U.S. Open)

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to theCOVID-19 pandemic

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

*As of 2020 season^[2]

Professional

• Ryder Cup:2014,2016 (winners)
• Presidents Cup:2015 (winners)
• World Cup:2016

• 2004 Nationwide Tour graduates
• 2007 Nationwide Tour graduates
• 2008 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins

• Official website
• Jimmy Walker at thePGA Tour official site
• Jimmy Walker at theOfficial World Golf Ranking official site

• American male golfers
• Baylor Bears men's golfers
• PGA Tour golfers
• Winners of men's major golf championships
• Ryder Cup competitors for the United States
• Korn Ferry Tour graduates
• Golfers from Oklahoma
• Golfers from San Antonio
• Sportspeople from Oklahoma City
• Sportspeople from New Braunfels, Texas
• Sportspeople from Boerne, Texas
• 1979 births
• Living people
• Presidents Cup competitors for the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2023
• Biography with signature
• Articles with hCards
• BLP articles lacking sources from August 2016
• All BLP articles lacking sources