Jason Day was left to rue two late mistakes as he came up just short of a first PGA TOUR win since 2023 at The American Express in California.

Needing to make up four strokes on Austrian Sepp Straka in the final round at the Pete Dye Stadium Course at La Quinta, Day had narrowed the gap to within three early in the back nine.

With Straka on the back fringe, Day had less than 17 feet for birdie at the par-4 14th yet ran the tricky downhiller four-feet past. The return four-footer horse-shoed wickedly from the right edge and spat out on the left, the resulting bogey a setback in Day’s late chase.

A two-shot swing at the par-5 16th gave the 37-year-old Queenslander a sniff yet a self-confessed “uncommitted” swing off the par-5 18th led to a closing bogey and a share of third.

“I wish I could have had the 18th tee ball back, it was a very uncommitted shot there,” said Day after his best finish since he was runner-up at The Open in 2023.

“But overall I feel like the stats this week were very solid from tee to green. Could have done a little bit better on the greens, but I think with a lie/loft adjustment and then also some putting practice, I think that should be back on top of it.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention like that, so it’s nice to be able to stand there and hit some of the shots that I did knowing that, under the pump, you still got some really good stuff in there.

“Let’s just kind of build on that going forward.”

Another Aussie with plenty to build from after his first outing for 2025 is Victorian David Micheluzzi.

Embarking on his second year on the DP World Tour, Micheluzzi had a share of the lead after Round 1 of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Course in Dubai.

He, Jason Scrivener and Min Woo Lee all spent time inside the top 10 on the leaderboard through the four days, Micheluzzi shooting 65 in the final round to earn a share of eighth to climb to 13th on the Race to Dubai Ranking.

The 54-hole leader, Kiwi Daniell Hillier rose to second in the Race to Dubai Ranking courtesy of his runner-up finish, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton holding off Hillier to win by one for his fifth Rolex Series win.

Photo: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

Results

PGA TOUR The American Express Pete Dye Stadium Course, La Quinta, California 1 Sepp Straka 65-64-64-70—263 $US1.584m T3 Jason Day 64-66-67-69—266 $519,200 T19 Cam Davis 69-67-67-69—272 $125,400 MC Aaron Baddeley 74-68-69—211

DP World Tour Hero Dubai Desert Classic Emirates GC, Dubai, UAE 1 Tyrrell Hatton 71-65-68-69—273 €1,486,699.47 2 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 68-65-70-71—274 €961,982.01 T8 David Micheluzzi 65-73-75-65—278 €207,263.40 T10 Ryan Fox (NZ) 68-70-69-72—279 €156,759.34 T17 Min Woo Lee 71-66-73-72—282 €111,065.20 T21 Jason Scrivener 67-69-74-73—283 €94,886.41 T37 Adam Scott 71-71-69-75—286 €55,095.33 T58 Elvis Smylie 74-68-72-75—289 €25,361.34

Korn Ferry Tour The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island Ocean Club Golf Course at Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas After Round 1 T83 Rhein Gibson 73 T113 Harry Hillier (NZ) 77

The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis The Ocean Club Golf Course at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas 1 Hank Lebioda 67-62-67-66—262 $US180,000 Won on the first hole of sudden-death playoff T39 Rhein Gibson 65-72-66-70—273 $5,000 MC Harry Hillier (NZ) 72-70—142

PGA TOUR Champions Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Hualalai GC, Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii 1 Ernie Els 67-65-66—198 $US340,000 T5 Steven Alker (NZ) 70-66-65—201 $93,000 T15 Rod Pampling 69-66-70—205 $35,000 T19 Mark Hensby 69-71-66—206 $27,200