With two holes remaining in his U.S. Open, Jason Day needed one final push, something to catapult him up the tournament’s leader board while his championship dreams dwindled with each passing shot. It could have come through his own play, blunders from those ahead of him or some kind of divine intervention.
Unfortunately for him, the 17th hole at Oakmont Country Club is no place to seek salvation.
A late push from the world’s top-ranked player looked like it would provide an added layer of intrigue to a bizarre final round of the U.S. Open Sunday, as Day trailed leader Dustin Johnson by three strokes. But a double-bogey on the second-to-last hole erased any hope of an improbable victory that would have capped off an up-and-down week for him.
Day’s approach to the hole was understandable. A 313-yard par 4 with an uphill fairway that bends sharply to the left before reaching the green, the hole is a window of sorts into a player’s psyche as they stand in the tee box. A more content competitor will play it safe, grabbing an iron, laying up short of the green and creating a manageable approach shot.
A more desperate player like Day, on the other hand, will reach for a wood and try to reach the green in a single swing. The reward for a good shot is immense — an eagle, perhaps, or, at the very worst, a par — but the penalty that comes if even the smallest thing goes wrong can be disastrous.
It is a lesson Day learned quickly. His tee shot landed to the right of the green in a bunker so deep the 6-foot Australian wasn’t visible to nearby spectators when he went in for his shot. He cleared the trap, but his ball raced across the green and rolled into another bunker on the opposite side. His first attempt to get out of the bunker was unsuccessful, and after he made it on the green on his second try, he two-putted to seal his fate.
“I had to push,” Day said. “You can’t win tournaments just really laying up there. I mean, I had the opportunity to go out there and give myself the shot at winning the tournament. I tried to hit a good shot there. I hit a great drive. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
After that ordeal, Day bogeyed the 18th hole to finish at 2 over for the tournament, putting him six strokes behind Johnson in a tie for eighth place.
In some respects, it’s a disappointing finish for arguably the world’s best player. Considering where he stood Friday, after firing a cringe-worthy 76 in the first round, there’s some solace to be found in his overall performance in the tournament. He went 5-under over the ensuing two rounds, and even his 1-over 71 Sunday was tied for 13th among the 67 remaining players.
Day wasn’t sullen following his round, playfully tossing his ball to the fans in the grandstands by the 18th hole and speaking at his news conference in his upbeat Australian cadence.
His regret, however, was impossible to completely cloak. He won his first major, the PGA Championship, in August, but he recognizes how close he has come to clearing the hurdle of the U.S. Open. In his past five appearances in the event, he has finished in the top 10 four times and has twice been the runner-up.
The tournament has been a ceiling for a player whose game knows very few of them. Oakmont granted Day few favors this week, but it never completely undid him. Eventually, he believes, he’ll add golf’s toughest test to his growing and impressive resume.
“I keep having a lot of top 10s in U.S. Opens, so one of these years … I mean, I’ve had two second place finishes already,” Day said. “Now a fourth and a ninth and an eighth now. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing because obviously I’m putting myself in contention to give myself a shot at winning. So one of these years, it’s going to fall my way.”
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.
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