A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

The unheralded Jimmy Walker became the fourth player this year to win one of golf’s four majors when he birdied the 18th hole at Baltusrol on Sunday to capture the PGA Championship by one stroke over the world’s No. 1 player, Jason Day.

Walker led every round of the rain-interrupted tournament and shot a 14-under 266 to top Day. Walker and Day both played 36 holes Sunday because of the inclement weather.

Talk about your unlikely winners. Walker missed the cut at the British Open and finished tied for 29th at the Masters. Walker joins Danny Willett (Masters), Dustin Johnson (U.S. Open) and Henrik Stenson (British Open) as first-time major champions. The last time four different players won the four majors was 2011.

Horse Racing

Laoban, a 27-1 longshot, won the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. Laoban, a son of Uncle Mo, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.39 and paid $56 to win over more celebrated entrants such as Mohaymen. … Running on a sloppy track at Oceanport, N.J.’s Monmouth Park, Exaggerator, the winner of the Preakness Stakes, won the Haskell Invitational on Sunday. Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist faded late and finished fourth.

NASCAR

The Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono’s Long Pond was postponed due to bad weather and will be run on Monday. Martin Truex Jr. is the pole sitter.

Elsewhere
The Baltimore Orioles won the final game of their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays to retake first place in the American League East. The O’s won 6-2 in 12 innings….Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning as the Boston Red Sox scored five runs to defeat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3, overcoming a 3-0 deficit…Novak Djokovic topped Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-5 to win the Rogers Cup in Toronto….Carl Frampton won a 12-round majority decision Saturday over Leo Santa Cruz to win the featherweight boxing championship. Santa Cruz was making his second title defense; Crampton said he would be open to a rematch.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman