DAY’S LONG PGA YEAR COMES TO TOUGH END
JASON Day will eye his return to Australia as a chance to reboot after squandering his last chance to avoid a winless US PGA Tour season.
A poor final round of fourover 74 at the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta left the world No.6 10 shots behind winner Xander Schauffele after he’d shared the lead during the third round.
Schauffele carded a 68 for a 12-under 268 total and a oneshot victory from Justin Thomas (66), whose runnerup finish was enough to clinch the $US10 million FedEx Cup points series title ahead of Jordan Spieth.
For 29-year-old Day, the East Lake Golf Club tournament was a snapshot of a disappointing season, capping a series of missed opportunities this year which have resulted in him drifting since his 47week stint as world No.1.
In August, Day let slip a chance to bag a second career major at the US PGA Championship when a puzzling choice to go for the green from the trees on the last hole of the third round led to a quadruple bogey and opened the door for Thomas. In May, the Ohiobased Queenslander lost in sudden death play-off to Billy Horschel at the Byron Nelson Classic, when he missed a simple three-foot putt. Day hopes his first visit to Australia since 2013 in November will help reignite his golf game.
With countryman Adam Scott also winless in 2017, it was the first year since 2012 that at least one of the two Australian big guns failed to record a Tour victory.