While his record at the US Open doesn’t read as badly as Phil Mickelson’s, Australian Jason Day earned his second runner-up performance (and fourth top 3 in a major) in trying conditions at the 2013 US Open as Justin Rose went on to win his first major by two shots at Merion.
The setup of the course came under scrutiny all week by players and media alike, with Phil Mickelson voicing his displeasure about the 266 yard, Par 3 third hole, with players forced to hit driver.
The always consistent Day arguably threw away his chance at the 2013 Masters with a meltdown late in his round at Augusta, but he was out to make amends this week in Pennsylvania.
Rounds of 70, 74 & 68 had Day poised to strike coming into the final day, and he was able to ink his name at the top of the leaderboard after a birdie on the tenth hole; but a mistake on the 11th ended up costing the 25-year-old.
His ball found the thick rough just off the right edge of the fairway, but found the creek short of the green on his approach shot. From a tight lie in the drop zone, the Australian only just cleared the hazard again; but a clutch chip-in from the rough gave Day some hope to pull off a victory.
Two more bogeys weren’t what the doctor ordered for the Queenslander, however, as he slipped to 3-over for the tournament to end up joint-second with Phil Mickelson.
“As long as I keep knocking on the door, I think I’ll win a major here soon,” Day said. “Unfortunately things happen in golf and that’s just the way it is.”
From the looks of it, a major win isn’t far away for Day, but he has struggled to close out tournaments, only winning once so far on the PGA Tour. But with age comes experience, and he can only grow wiser as a player.
Troy Vayanos
Guest
Another great effort by our Jason Day but unfortunately coming up just short. Jason's time will come in the big one as he has time on his side plus a great short game. I believe in the next 12 months he will taste major victory for certain.