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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

It was a purchase with a purpose, one made to tuck away a prized possession for a celebratory day.

So the cork is coming out of the 1.5 liter bottle of 1999 Joseph Phelps Insignia, one of the finest Bordeaux blends crafted in Napa Valley, sometime this week.

Jimmy Walker has been waiting for his big comeback since 2005. (WireImage)

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• Video: Walker wins it • Walker's player page

"That's what I bought it for,'' a giddy Jimmy Walker said Sunday afternoon, "for my comeback victory.''

There was a long pause while Walker savored the sound of those wonderful words.

"And I just might drink it all,'' he said, laughing.

Actually Walker plans to share it with his wife of less than three years. Because he knows he would not have been in position to roar from seven strokes down in the final round and win the Nationwide Tour's National Mining Association Pete Dye Classic on Sunday without the support, encouragement and love of Erin Walker.

It was a what-goes-around-comes-around one-shot win for the injury-plagued Walker. When the winning five-foot par saver trundled into the left side of the cup on the 72nd hole Sunday, Walker, the 2004 Nationwide Tour's leading money winner and its player of the year, truly had come full circle.

Not to belabor a point, but Walker might not have arrived at such a critical point in his career in West Virginia had he and Erin not crossed paths at the 2004 Utah EnergySolutions Championship. Walker was the Tour's top gun, and Erin was a Park City, Utah, native who volunteered at the tournament before she planned to set sail for law school in Hawaii. A whirlwind romance ensued. The persuasive Walker convinced Erin to forego law school. They were married four months later.

"I knew she was the one,'' Walker said.

Good call there.

Erin got her trip to Hawaii in January of 2005. It was part of an extended honeymoon, where the Walkers would combine Jimmy's business with the tropical pleasure of the Islands. Professional golf had been nothing but a joyride for the former Baylor All-American up to that time. He qualified for the 2001 United States Open and Monday-qualified his way into conditional status on the Nationwide Tour in 2002 and maintained it in 2003 before busting loose with two victories and $371,346 in earnings.

Then, in what would have been one of Walker's proudest moments -- his first start as a bona fide member of the PGA TOUR, his world tilted off its axis just when he felt like he was rested, sharp and ready for the challenge on the world's biggest golf stage. It happened without as much as a hint of warning when Walker went to the range to warm up for the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Turned out Walker never made it to the first tee. Never hit a shot, so sharp was the piercing pain in his neck.

And so began the Dark Ages for Jimmy Walker.

There were numerous trips to doctors. The problem finally was diagnosed as a bulging disc. Rest was prescribed. But Walker was too eager to sit still. He came back too soon, played well enough to fit inside the top 20 in a couple of tournaments, but the pain was out of control. His season sadly ended in May.

"It was brutal,'' he said wistfully.

There was more bad news though. Erin's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. His best friend's mother passed away suddenly. Waves of sinking sensations washed over him.

Granted a major medical exemption in 2006, Walker attempted to pick up the pieces of his game on the PGA TOUR. But his swing had flattened out, his confidence level was running on empty and every time he drew the club back, he wasn't sure if that knife-in-the-neck pain would return.

Walker was behind a Gibraltar-sized eight ball. And it showed in his nine cuts and one top ,25 in 21 starts.

"I felt like someone kicked me in the stomach again,'' Walker said. "I kept thinking (my game) was right around the corner, that it only was a matter of time. But it just wasn't happening.''

Enter Erin, who, her husband said, can be "a little feisty.''

"She said that maybe I needed to look down a different avenue,'' Walker said.

Walker listened. He went to see instructor Todd Anderson, who is based in Sea Island, Ga. A reclamation project began.

"Erin was right,'' he said. "I had six weeks to get ready for Q-school. I had to do something.''

Walker's game showed signs of life in second stage, but he missed making it to the finals by a shot. Another season on the Nationwide Tour was in his future. The idea wasn't necessarily appealing, but Walker had no choice.

"I wanted this to be a rebuilding year,'' he said.

Four days in West Virginia turned 2007 into the year of Walker's rebirth.

"Winning is pretty big,'' he said. "Now it doesn't feel like I have to keep rushing.''

That's because Walker's $108,000 share of the $600,000 purse moved him off the top 60 bubble (he was 62nd last week) and into "The 25'' at 16th position with $177,663. He'll likely need to make a little more cash to hold onto to his spot on the money list in order to punch his ticket back to the PGA TOUR in 2008, but he certainly isn't complaining about his current station in life.

"I've been playing on the bubble for the entire year, and now I'll have full-time status out here next year if I don't make it,'' he said. "That's huge for me.''

So is this week's break in Nationwide Tour play. Then Erin and Jimmy Walker will return to the place they met, the Utah EnergySolutions Championship. Before then though, there is some very welcomed yet unfinished business with that magnum of Insignia.

Cheers!