Jimmy Walker in control at Texas

Edited by Anand Datla

March 29, 2015: Jimmy Walker opened up a four shot lead over Jordan Spieth at the Valero Texas Open. Walker made 69 in the third round to go 9-under 207, for a handy lead ahead of the race to the title on Sunday. Spieth made a 71 to close the round at 5-under 211.

Jimmy Walker and Jordan Spieth didn’t know it at the time but the par-4 12th hole at TPC San Antonio turned out to be the turning point of the round for both players. For Walker, the 12th proved to be a springboard for the rest of his round — even though it looked like it might be the beginning of his demise at the time.

Walker hit driver off the tee and watched as the ball disappeared into the left bunker. What he didn’t realize until he reached the bunker, however, was that the ball had literally disappeared. When a quick search didn’t produce the ball, Walker did the only thing he could do: he started digging in the sand.

“I’m in there digging, I’m moving earth and I can’t find the ball,” Walker said. “Really? Is it here? It’s here. I don’t know. It was kind of hectic.”

The dig finally proved to be a successful one when the ball was located deep in the sand. Walker managed to dislodge the ball and advance it into the rough. Three shots later, he was in the hole with bogey.

Following the bogey save, Walker went on the birdie three of the next six holes to grab a four-shot lead at 9-under.

“I didn’t really know what to do,” Walker said, “I didn’t know if the play that I made was going to be right. It was way under there. So that was a bummer, but I got it out somehow and then hit a good shot up there and thought if I made the putt that would have been gigantic. Making 5 was good there.”

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Like Walker, Jordan Spieth had similar problems with his tee shot on the 12th. The two-time PGA TOUR winner leaked his drive into the native area on the right side of the hole and was forced to play out sideways to get the ball back in play.

The tee shot proved to be an important one for Spieth as he went on make 5 at the hole, ending a run of eight consecutive holes without a bogey — Spieth made four birdies during that stretch — that allowed the 21-year-old to grab a one-shot lead over Walker as both players made the turn.

While Spieth said driver was the right play, he admitted that he probably did too much when he shaped the ball off the tee.

“I think [driver] was the right decision, but where I went wrong with it is instead of ripping the drive, I tried to just bleed a fade off the bunkers and take some off. And that’s just what I do on the weekends when I get in trouble. I’m trying to do a little too much.”

Spieth went on to bogey the 14th and double bogey the 16th when his ball hit the grandstand and ricocheted 42 yards to the right of the green. Even with two birdies offsetting the mistakes down the stretch, Spieth only managed to shoot 71, leaving him four shots behind Walker.

“I just made a bad swing,” Spieth said of his tee shot on the 16th. “… If it had gone against the grandstands I would have been left with that same up and down I had the second time. It was kind of a stroke penalty bad break on it. All-in-all, I didn’t deserve a good one with that swing.”

Republished from PGA Tour website