World number one Jason Day and two-time major runner-up Dustin Johnson couldn’t make their Masters breakthroughs Sunday, but both departed Augusta National with confidence their green jacket time will come.
The two played alongside each other in the third-to-last pairing during the final round of the 80th Masters, but neither was able to mount a serious charge at the title won by England’s Danny Willett after defending champion Jordan Spieth’s quadruple-bogey nightmare at the par-3 12th.
“I’m sure he’s killing himself for it. But we all do it to ourselves,” Day said. “Hopefully he just learns from it and gets better and comes back stronger.”
Spieth’s disaster left him level second with England’s Lee Westwood and meant Australia’s Day would keep the top ranking despite sharing 10th on one-over par 289.
“I just didn’t feel quite comfortable with my swing,” Day said. It’s hard to get anything going from there once you do that. My short game was still going well, especially the putting. So I just need to tidy up the long game a little bit.”
Johnson shared fourth on one-under 287, but was proud of the way he fought back after a double bogey at the fifth.
The 31-year-old American birdied three of the next four holes and birdies at the par-5 13th and 15th had him within reach of Willett before a double bogey at 17 ended his hopes for his first major title.
“I’m doing all the right things,” Johnson said. “I hit it in all the right spots. I hit some great shots. I’m definitely pleased with the way I played.”
And both men are excited for next year’s Masters, world number eight Johnson—the highest-ranked player without a major title—anticipating better days after settling for his 11th top-10 major showing without a victory.
“I feel like I’m getting better each year, so I’m looking forward to it,” Johnson said. “I feel great. I think my game is exactly where it needs to be. I feel like I’m playing really solid. I feel like I’ve got control of my game.”
Day, a Masters runner-up, in his 2011 debut, won his first major title at last year’s PGA Championship but yearns for a green jacket and was not happy his last-day 73 matched the worst final round of any top-20 finisher.
“I’ve just got to try to focus on what I need to do for next year,” Day said.
“I’ve just got to keep myself working hard. Although it was a disappointing week from tee to green, it wasn’t that bad. Hopefully the hard work will pay off. But I’ll look at what I did wrong this week and try and improve that in future tournaments here. I’ve got to keep fighting and keep trying to win as many as I can.”