Jimmy Walker Grabs 2nd Win of the 2013-2014 Season

Jimmy Walker celebrates with his family after winning the 2014 Sony Open in Hawaii. Photo by @pga_tour.

We were shocked to see our fantasy pick Harris English loose his grip on this past weekend’s Sony Open after his 67th hole on Sunday. What looked to be a sure thing for English ended quickly when Jimmy Walker’s birdies game flying in seemingly out of nowhere.

Walker finished the Sony Open strong, fighting off Chris Kirk to go 17-under and take a commanding lead in the FedExCup Standings. Although we didn’t have the winner this week, in all our fantasy team combined for 6 cuts made, including 5 players finishing within the Top 8 with a total of $782,880 in money earned at this small purse event.

It took Jimmy Walker 188 tries before winning his first PGA TOUR event, but only 5 more weeks to seal the deal on his second. After spending years on the Nationwide TOUR working out the kinks, Walker made a name for himself in 2013 with a number of Top 10 finishes, finally breaking through with a win at CordeValle.

“I’ve always felt like I belonged, and you need affirmation every now and then,” Walker said in a post round interview. “The other win was like, ‘Yeah, OK, I can do it.’ I did it, and I was supposed to be able to do it. Everybody told me I was supposed to do it, and I finally did it. And then it’s, ‘Well, are you going to be the guy that won that you never hear from again?’ It’s nice to get it done and do it again today.”

Although the win slipped through his fingers Harris English remains among our favorites this season. The young PGA TOUR sophomore played strong and consistent, but lost steam when it mattered most, with missed putts and greens in regulation being his undoing. English had the lead with four holes to play but began to unravel late with a failed par save from a bunker on 15.  What followed was three missed birdie chances the rest of the stretch, two of which were from inside 10 feet.

Our other picks: Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, and Charles Howell III all finished T8 in a large field. Dufner, who looked promising early on, followed in his same footsteps as in Kapalua last week with a disappointing finish of T29 and 9 strokes off the leader.

The TOUR will head up the west coast to the Humana Challenge this week. Make sure to check back on Tuesday for our premium fantasy golf picks.