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Bahama Breeze is a chain of Caribbean-themed restaurants headquartered in Florida. There are more than 40 locations in 15 states, almost all in the Midwest, South and East.
About three years ago, a new employee was hired in Jacksonville.
He lasted less than a month.
That’s how long it took Danny Walker to realize he wasn’t done with golf.
“There was a period when I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep playing, just wasn’t enjoying golf anymore and was kind of a little depressed,” Walker said late Wednesday afternoon at Torrey Pines. “I did that for a few weeks and after that I was like, ‘I want to play golf.’ That’s what I wanted to do.”
Walker was 26 at the time, more than four years removed from a career at the University of Virginia. He won a PGA Tour Canada event in 2018 but other than that mostly struggled on the Korn Ferry Tour and some mini-tours.
But he kept going, and last year he finished 28th in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings. The top 30 get full-time status on the PGA Tour.
That’s how Walker, now 29, found himself at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open, playing the South Course for the second time in his life. And shooting the best score of the day on the course considered one of the toughest on tour, with seven birdies and zero bogeys.
In shooting a 7-under 65, he became just the 12th player since 1980 and the first since 2019 to hit all 18 greens in regulation on the South Course.
Walker is tied for second with Hayden Springer, two shots behind Ludvig Aberg. Springer and Aberg were among the 14 players in the top 17 who competed on the North Course, which played an average of 2.27 strokes easier than the South.
“One of those days where (my) driver was working, really just never forced the issue out there,” Walker said. “Was really just trying to hit the middle of the green a lot of times and then rolled in some putts and that’s how I shot a good score.”
Walker spoke after the round about how he’s been working hard to improve and how he got a new Titleist driver Sunday and a new Scotty Cameron putter Tuesday. But when asked if he saw what happened Wednesday coming, he said:
“I mean, that good of a round? No,” he said. “I was trying to find my footing a little bit in my ball-striking and my putting. It felt really, really close.”
This is just the fourth PGA Tour event for Walker, and his third this year. The Florida native missed the cut in the previous three, including Hawaii and Palm Desert the last two weeks.
“The first two weeks I was definitely just stressing myself out too much,” Walker said. “This was the first day I really just got myself to just relax and play golf and enjoy the day, just see targets and hit shots and not worry about too much. A lot of it was just, yeah, getting myself in the right head space, so it took two weeks.”
Walker is a long way from thinking about contending this week, let alone winning, but there is this potential bonus: A victory would gain him entry to the AT&T Pebble Beach and Genesis Invitational. The latter is hosted by Tiger Woods — Walker’s favorite athlete — and is expected to be played three weeks from now, reportedly at Torrey Pines.
Walker has never met Woods.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” he said. “That’d be pretty cool.”
Posner is a freelance writer.
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