Jimmy Walker's day began at 7:40 a.m. ET and ended nearly 12 hours later with him lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on the 18th green as he won the 98th PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club.

Thunderstorms on Saturday washed out the majority of the third round, so Walker and the rest of the final five pairings had to play 36 holes on Sunday to complete the championship. Because of the condensed schedule, which included starting the fourth round an hour after the final group teed off, players were not re-paired and the same duos went out on the course for Round 4.

For Walker, that meant playing both rounds with Robert Streb, who finished T7 at 8 under, and not Jason Day. Day was playing in the penultimate group with Emiliano Grillo, and the massive gallery usually reserved for the final pairing stuck with the defending champion rather than following the final pairing.

In a strange week at Baltusrol, it was fitting that the final round felt different. Walker, the 54-hole leader at a major championship, walked with a gallery that was a quarter the size of the one following Day for most of the afternoon.

The crowd at Baltusrol was waiting for the world's No. 1 player to rally up the leaderboard, but Day failed to give them the charge they craved. Day shot an even-par 34 on the front nine, and Walker never heard the roars that could have unnerved him early.

After two days of dreary, rainy conditions, the skies opened up briefly as the final groups made the turn, and a re-energized Day showed signs of life. He birdied the ninth to get back to even par and move one back of Walker. He birdied the 11th and murmurs began creeping up to Walker as he pushed into a tie at the top, but Walker was not fazed.

The eventual champion holed out a bunker shot for birdie on 10 to answer Day and stay one ahead. Then he doubled up on the birdie count on the 11th to pull two shots ahead, a gap Day could never close.

Walker outlasted a stacked leaderboard, led by the world's No. 1 player, and never blinked.