Lucas Herbert says he will eventually appreciate his maiden top-15 result at the Majors, once the disappointment of a back nine collapse at the PGA Championship subsides.
Herbert had a birdie putt at the ninth at Southern Hills on the final day that would have taken him to four-under-par and within three shots of the lead. But it lipped out and Herbert crashed over the next six holes.
World No.46 Herbert made bogeys at the 11th, 12th and 14th, and a double-bogey at the 16th, to tumble down the leaderboard. He clawed back up it with birdies at the 17th and 18th for a 71 and an even par total and a tie for 13th place.
Herbert was five shots behind a playoff between 2017 PGA champion Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris, which Thomas won to become a two-time PGA Championship winner.
“It was a pretty frustrating day, to be honest,” Herbert told Australian Golf Digest. “I thought at the start of the day if I shot 64, I was going to put myself right in there and make those boys sweat those last few holes. I had it right within my reach through nine holes and I needed to be patient.
“I thought played a lot better than what the scorecard shows. I got a few bad breaks; I felt the wind switched on me a couple of times on the back nine. But I also hit a couple of bad shots.
“I (mishit) only about two shots for the entire day and I got punished for a few other shots that were just a little bit off, which I felt I shouldn’t have been punished for.
“I’ll have to put it down as one of those days. I went through the proper processes on the back nine and thought about each shot. It just didn’t happen for me. But that’s Major championship golf and that’s what you sign up for. “
The silver lining is Herbert secured a maiden top-15 at the Majors. His previous best result at the four big events was a tie for 31st at the 2020 US Open during the pandemic.
“Yes it’s nice to tick off top 15 in a Major, I hadn’t finished in the top 30 before this week,” Herbert said, who also ranked first in the PGA Championship field for putting. “I’m sure I’ll appreciate it when the frustration settles. It was satisfying to be in the mix at at Major.”
Herbert’s fellow Australian Cameron Smith also finished at even par after a Sunday 69.
Marc Leishman carded a 68 to finish at four over, while Cam Davis (70) was six over and Jason Day (73) was eight over.
