Champion had a long walk to the winner’s circle

Jimmy Walker came a long way to win the Sony Open in Hawaii. Yes, there are the 3,688 miles from his residence near San Antonio to Waialae Country Club in Kahala.

But more intriguing is the trek from injuring himself here nine years ago before he could even get going to running away with this event for first place and the $1,008,000 paycheck that goes with it.

"I was on the range on Monday (in 2005) and I took one swing and it felt like somebody stuck a knife in my neck and it turned out it was a disk bulge," Walker said. "Ever since then it’s been about taking care of that, maintaining that."

Things didn’t go much better in 2006 when he did make it to the first tee, but only to shoot an 80 in his first round. He remembers finishing "dead last." That Thursday he was the answer to a local trivia question as the only golfer to score worse than Michelle Wie in her final Sony Open appearance.

You couldn’t blame Walker if he’d decided to never come back to the islands.

But after a year off healing in 2007 he made the cut here and tied for 61st.

Lost his card, got it back at Q-School in 2008. The perseverance paid off and Walker was fourth here in 2011.

Now, injury-free and playing with confidence coming off his first tour win at the Frys.com Open last fall, Walker negotiated a crowded leaderboard with a steady front nine and a timely birdie blitz on the back.

He credits working with Butch Harmon the past two years.

"He said I believe in you and I believe you’ve got a lot of talent, and I think you’re underutilizing what you’ve got," Walker said. "I really enjoy hanging out with him. He’s a very confident person. When he tells you something, you believe it."

It’s obvious that confidence has found its way to Walker.

We knew no one could back into this win, and benign conditions meant something like Walker’s 7-under 63 would be needed.

His birdies on 13, 15 and 16 to take command will be remembered most. But the first of the day on No. 2 was just as important, considering third-round leader Chris Kirk finished just one stroke off of Walker’s 17 under.

The hole that got Walker going Sunday was also the one that sent him toward 10 over par in that nightmare round eight years ago.

"I made, like, a triple or something. I think I remember it being really windy and I think I had a 3-iron into that hole," Walker said, remembering back to 2006. "That tells you how windy it was. Today I had 9-iron."

"Yeah, it was a long time ago. I’ve tried to forget about it. Thanks for bringing it back up."

Golfers remember everything … maybe even the bad holes more. It’s part of what separates the great from the rest, learning from the mistakes. Walker bogeyed No. 2 in his first round this week, but also birdied it on Saturday as well as Sunday.

"I like the golf course, and I’ll keep coming back," he said.

The good memories definitely outnumber the bad ones now.

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.