Tuesday 21 July 2015 09:31, UK
Jordan Spieth admitted his near miss in the 144th Open Championship was "tough to swallow" after an enthralling final day at St Andrews.
Having already won the Masters and the US Open, the 21-year-old American was bidding to remain on track for an amazing calendar year Grand Slam.
But he fell a shot short of claiming a place in a play-off after carding a final round 69 to finish on 14-under, and could only look on as Zach Johnson claimed the title.
Spieth was left to rue a costly double-bogey on the eighth and then, having recovered to reach 15-under, he dropped a shot at the very difficult 17th and could not birdie the last following a wayward drive.
Spieth told ESPN: "Right now it's a tough feeling to be that close in a major.
"It does not matter about the historical element. To be that close on our biggest stage and come up short, how many chances do you get? It's tough to swallow for a bit.
"My goal was four under for the round and we got there on 16. Ideally you can finish par, birdie, and that would have got it done.
"It stings a little bit. We gave it a really good run but that was some phenomenal golf by those guys.
"Today was a really tough day. I just made a mental mistake on No 8 and who would have thought a drive on 18 was going to be what really hurt me at the end there?
"It's kind of hard to not hit a good one on that hole. I just wish I had given myself a little better opportunity."
Spieth is now targeting the US PGA Championship next month and still has the opportunity to match Ben Hogan in 1953 and Tiger Woods in 2000 by winning three majors in a year.
"I don't know how many guys have done three majors in a year, I'm sure there's only been a few," he said. "So that would be the next goal as far as the history goes.
"I've got a couple of weeks off now and I'm going to go home and reflect on it. It won't hurt too bad, it's not like I really lost it on the last hole, and 17 was brutally challenging.
"I made a lot of the right decisions down the stretch and would certainly have closed plenty of tournaments out. This just wasn't one of those.
"It's hard to do that every single time and I won't beat myself up too bad, because I do understand that."
Watch the final major of the year - the US PGA Championship - live on Sky Sports 4 from 5pm on August 13.
