A rookie came to The Players without a spot in the field. Then a shock phone call set up a potentially life-changing payday
By Jack Bantock, CNN
(CNN) — It was roughly 7 a.m. on Thursday when Danny Walker, in a restroom of the TPC Sawgrass locker rooms, felt his phone begin to buzz.
The call itself lasted a little more than a few minutes, but its impact for the PGA Tour rookie has already been nothing short of life-changing – and could get even better.
A last minute withdrawal from former world No. 1 Jason Day saw Walker parachuted into The Players Championship, where the Florida native has since proceeded to outperform a multitude of the game’s biggest stars.
Listed as first alternate for the 51st edition of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, the 29-year-old had made the short trip from his home in Jacksonville to Ponte Vedra Beach knowing that he’d be in the field only if a player pulled out.
Having watched the action from behind the ropes last year, childhood dreams of a tournament debut looked set to be delayed by at least another 12 months when the call he never anticipated informed Walker that 2015 PGA Championship winner Day had withdrawn due to illness.
The news was the type of surprise that necessitated a few moments of solitude.
“It meant the world to me,” Walker told reporters Thursday. “Wanted to play in this event since I was a little kid, especially living here locally … I couldn’t have been more excited.
“I went and sat in my car for a few minutes afterwards and just kind of let it hit me a little bit, maybe let a tear out … I tried to let the emotion out early so then I can relax and go play.”
The bombshells didn’t stop there.
Joining world No. 284 Walker for his 8:46 a.m. tee time were a pair of major champions: Jordan Spieth and Wyndham Clark.
It was esteemed company for a golfer who only last year earned his first PGA Tour card with a 28th place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour, a developmental tour for the top circuit.
Yet Walker showed no hint of intimidation in just his 19th career round of PGA Tour golf, birdieing the Stadium Course’s iconic 17th par three en route to carding an opening one-over 73 – just one stroke higher than 2023 US Open champion Clark.
Even so, it left the University of Virginia alumni with work to do to make it to the weekend. That goal looked to be within touching distance as six birdies saw Walker arrive at the 17th tee on Friday at four-under par for the second round, only for two closing bogeys to bring on an anxious wait to see if one-under par overall would be enough to squeeze through.
The cut line settled at one-under exactly, and Walker – once again – was in The Players by the skin of his teeth.
‘It was a little surreal’
With a host of big stars absent – from major winners Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harman to established PGA Tour winners Viktor Hovland and Max Homa – Walker headed out for the third round’s earliest tee time on Saturday, where 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry awaited as his playing partner.
“It was a little surreal,” Walker told reporters Saturday. “I had never met any of those guys, so it was nice just to meet them and get that out of the way. Like, ‘Okay, now we can go play golf.’
The first hole or so, I was pretty nervous and then was able to find some rhythm after that.”
Rhythm was an understatement. While Lowry labored to a frustrating two-over 74, Walker sailed around a windy TPC Sawgrass with a bogey-free six-under 66 to return to the clubhouse inside the top-10 – four shots behind second round leaders Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia before the duo headed out Saturday.
“It was just a really good ball-striking day where I was hitting it solid,” said Walker, adding that he had played the course close to 100 times since moving to Jacksonville in 2019.
“I was hitting my start lines, that was the key.”
Staying inside the top-10 would lead to an unprecedented payday for Walker, who took a job as a waiter at restaurant chain Bahama Breeze around early 2022 before deciding to return to golf, according to his PGA Tour bio.
A 10th place finish (with no ties) at this year’s Players Championship would be rewarded with a $681,250 slice of a $25 million prize purse – just shy of the $684,667 Walker has accumulated across 97 events since turning professional in 2018.
Almost $180,000 of those total earnings have come from five PGA Tour starts in 2025, mostly from a tied-13th finish at the Mexico Open in February, which paid out approximately $137,000.
On Saturday evening though, Walker had more important plans than imagining how he will spend any potential winnings.
“Probably take a nap, or try to,” he said. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so see if I can make up for that.”
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