Jimmy Walker is making the best of a conflicted situation.
On the one club, he is back as the defending champion of the Sony Open in Hawaii, the same site where he suffered a neck injury a decade before that nearly sent him to the bone yard.
On the other club, he is only 72 hours removed from losing on the 19th hole to Patrick Reed at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Usually, a press conference reserved for last year’s winner is filled with questions of what’s it like to be back and how does it feel to come full circle from a devastating injury to a well-earned victory?
Not today, boss. Not today.
On this early Wednesday afternoon after his pro-am round, Walker had talked to everyone in the room just two days before and barely 10 minutes after Reed jammed in an 18-footer for birdie, leaving Walker shaking his hand and then his head as if to say, "What the heck just happened?"
When he came into the media room, it was about finishing second in a playoff, not about securing his fourth PGA Tour victory in fine fashion. While Walker was playing a little prevent defense — he knew Jason Day was in the house at 20 under and Hideki Matsuyama was just across the green at 19 down — Reed lofted a Hail Mary into the 16th and evened the score at 21 apiece.
But what Walker didn’t know, didn’t even realize until an hour and a half later, is that Reed had holed out from 83 yards for eagle and was suddenly dead even with him. And just like a horse that’s too far out in front and doesn’t realize someone’s closing in on him fast, he got nosed at the tape.
"It’s still there," said Walker, speaking of a pro’s closest compadre — disappointment. "But it’s just part of being a golfer. It’s putting a bad day behind you, and it wasn’t a bad day. I played good. It didn’t work out the way we wanted to.
"I woke up at about 12:30 on Tuesday morning and was up for a couple of hours kind of stewing over it, and then finally went back to sleep. And I’ve been good since."
While last week’s field was a tidy 34, this week 143 golfers will join Walker in the first full-field event of 2015. Walker certainly has good memories of Waialae Country Club, but so do a lot of others looking to get off to a fast start in the return of the wraparound PGA Tour season.
Luke Donald is here for the first time since 2010. The former No. 1 player in the world has had a few Arab springs on his schedule, preferring to start on the European side of the pond. But with seven events already in the FedEx Cup books, Donald has decided to bring the West Coast swing back into his travel plans, including a start here in Thursday’s opening round of this shot-maker’s course.
"This is a course I’ve always enjoyed playing," said Donald, who finished runner-up to Paul Goydos in 2007. "I think it’s one of the better ones for guys who like to position their golf ball. It’s not a course you have to overpower. It’s very much a strategy golf course.
"The last few years I’ve been doing the Middle East thing. I think overall looking at my results, I played a little better on the West Coast than I have in the Middle East, so that was another determining factor for coming back here to an event that I have had some success in the past."
History shows that nine out of 16 who began their year on Maui took the 40-minute flight over to Oahu and won the following week. But only one has won the two events back to back, and the same guy is the only one to successfully defend his Sony title belt — Ernie Els.
Walker had the chance to do both had he won last week. He can still successfully defend here, but there are golfers like No. 8-ranked Jason Day and former U.S. Open champ Webb Simpson who are hungrily eying this flat par-70 course in what should be ideal conditions.
"I think anywhere where you’ve had success, you feel good and you show up and you’re in a good mood and you’re excited to play," Walker said of his return to Waialae. "It (the loss on Maui) would be worse if you went to a place where you don’t have good thoughts and feelings and you’re not excited to be there. But I feel good. I’m playing good, hitting it good and ready to go."
