SAN ANTONIO, 29 Mar 2015 (AFP) - Walker, who lives only a half-hour's drive from the TPC San Antonio course, led by four shots when the day began and finished on 11-under 277 to defeat fellow Texan Jordan Spieth by that same margin.
"It's at home. It's cool. You can feel the love from your friends and family," Walker said. "It's not everyday that you can win in your hometown."
It was the second US PGA triumph of the season for Walker, who won his second consecutive Sony Open in Hawaii title earlier this year and also captured last year's Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the 2013 Frys.com Open.
Walker birdied the par-5 second and eighth holes but took bogeys at the fourth and par-3 seventh to make the turn level for the day. He began the back nine with a birdie from 16 feet but then missed a five-foot putt for par at 12 and took a bogey.
Walker added a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th and an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-4 17th, then parred the 18th to secure the victory, his fifth win in 37 starts after playing for nine years before securing his first PGA title.
"It was playing hard," Walker said. "It wasn't giving up many pars. I was leaking some oil there but I started making some putts."
Walker, who snapped a streak of 10 54-hole PGA leaders that had failed to win, will take practice rounds at Augusta National on Monday and Tuesday.
"I like Augusta," Walker said. "All this adds momentum and confidence. It's what we're constantly building toward."
Spieth, a 21-year-old Texan who shared second at last year's Masters, will rise from sixth to fourth in the world rankings out on Monday, trailing only world number one Rory McIlroy, Swedish world number two Henrik Stenson and defending Masters champion Bubba Watson.
Spieth has had eight top-seven finishes in his past 10 worldwide starts.
The top 14 finishers were all US players, with 2014 PGA playoff winner Billy Horschel third on 284, seven shots adrift, and Daniel Summerhays with Chesson Hadley on 285.
Dustin Johnson and Ryan Palmer shared sixth on 286 with Brendan Steele, Chris Kirk and Scott Pinckney on 287.
Leading scores after Sunday's final round of the US PGA Tour $6.2 million Texas Open (USA unless noted, par-72):
277 - Jimmy Walker 71-67-69-70
281 - Jordan Spieth 71-69-71-70
284 - Billy Horschel 72-70-71-71
285 - Daniel Summerhays 71-73-72-69, Chesson Hadley 71-72-71-71
286 - Dustin Johnson 78-72-68-68, Ryan Palmer 70-75-73-68
287 - Brendan Steele 74-68-72, Chris Kirk 71-71-73-72, Scott Pinckney 73-72-69-73
288 - Kyle Reifers 77-68-75-68, John Peterson 74-72-74-68, Charley Hoffman 67-72-79-70, Jason Kokrak 72-71-71-74
289 - Matt Kuchar 72-74-74-69, Cameron Percy (AUS) 72-74-74-69, K.J. Choi (KOR) 75-70-73-71, John Merrick 72-72-72-73, Carlos Ortiz (MEX) 79-67-70-73
290 - George McNeill 74-70-75-71, Bryce Molder 73-74-71-72, Pat Perez 78-71-69-72, Kevin Na 72-68-75-75, Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 68-71-76-75, Zach Johnson 71-71-72-76
291 - Shawn Stefani 79-70-72-70, Kevin Kisner 76-70-76-69, Gary Woodland 75-75-68-73, Matt Jones (AUS) 77-71-68-75