Nov. 8, 2004
By Helen Ross
Courtesy of PGATOUR.com
ATLANTA, Ga. - Surprise. Surprise. Jimmy Walker was out on a golf course Thursday afternoon when he got the call from PGA TOUR headquarters notifying him he'd been named the Nationwide Tour's Player of the Year.
His buddies were relentless, too, after Walker told them the good news.
"The rest of the day they kept heckling me," he recalled. "Every time I'd hit a good shot, they'd go, 'That's what you're supposed to do, player of the year.' And when I'd hit a bad shot, they'd say, 'Whoa, that doesn't look much like the player of the year.'
"I caught that all day. But it was fun."
The last 48 hours have been something of a whirlwind for Walker, who was the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour with $371,346.
Once the Texan got the good news, the first phone call went to his dad, who introduced him to the game when he was 8 years old. His teacher, his agent and his girlfriend were next on the list, and then there were travel plans to be made.
Walker flew to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon for a round of media interviews, as well as a chat with Mike Tirico and his pals at ABC during the telecast of THE TOUR Championship Presented by Coca-Cola. Don't worry, the VCR at home was set.
"This is very fulfilling," Walker said, as he took a break in the player dining area in the East Lake clubhouse for a quick lunch. "Ever since I was a kid, I've been thinking and dreaming about playing on the PGA TOUR.
"For me it's been a step-by-step progression. From junior golf to college golf to the mini-tours to working my way onto the Nationwide Tour and proving myself out there and making the step out here. Doing it the way I did is very satisfying."
Walker served notice early that 2004 would be his year. The Texan won the first Nationwide Tour event of the season in Panama and grabbed his second victory just three tournaments later. No one had ever won two events more quickly.
Jimmy Walker won two events on the Nationwide Tour in 2004. By then, Walker had nearly $200,000 in the bank, and he felt confident he had locked up one of the PGA TOUR cards that go to the top 20 on the money list at the end of the season.
"So then it was a matter of re-evaluating my goals, trying to stay No. 1 on the money list, things like that," he said.
Walker actually could have gotten to the TOUR more quickly had he won for a third time and received a "battlefield promotion." He got himself into position several times, finishing second twice, but he felt his play on the weekends held him back.
"There was pressure every week," Walker recalled. "Are you going to win? When are you going to win again? Is this going to be the week?
"So just shutting that out and playing good golf was what I focused on, and I did. I played well. I would say I got about a round away from winning that third."
The 25-year-old Walker played a variety of sports as a youngster, but he quickly focused on golf. His father was a scratch golfer -- Walker remembers once watching him shoot 60 -- and he wanted to share the sport with his dad.
"The thing that really appealed to me about golf was that I knew it was something my dad was good at," Walker said. "We couldn't play baseball together. We couldn't play basketball together. But golf was something we could.
"I'm a pretty competitive person. All I can remember is wanting to get good enough to beat him, and it finally happened when I was about 15."
Walker, who also was attracted by the individual nature of the game, shot 69 that day. He's never looked back, either -- criss-crossing the United States to ply his trade after leaving Baylor University to turn pro.
Walker estimated he put 28,000 miles on a brand new car in 2003 when he played the Nationwide Tour for the first time. He packed up and drove from San Antonio to Toronto to Baltimore, among other stops, and finished 31st on the money list.
This year, Walker allowed himself the luxury of flying to some Nationwide Tour events. But his love of cars remains. For the last two years, Walker and his father have been drag racing their Corvettes.
In fact, Walker spent Friday night at San Antonio Raceway, an IHRA drag strip, and won all four quarter-mile races he ran. He eclipsed his personal best in his first race, and then topped that in his second. His top speed was a little over 118 mph.
"We started just going out and watching," Walker said. "And then you think, I've just got to try my hand at this. It's competitive. You're racing against the best times you've ever run.
"I'm going to keep doing it. You're out there working hard all year. You've got to reward yourself, and my reward is going home and racing."
When he's not winning the Nationwide Tour's Player of the Year Award, that is.
