Jason Day hit the ball well enough to make a huge charge in the third round at the Masters but sadly his putting let him down, leaving the Australian's green jacket dreams on hold for another year.
The world No.5 knew he needed something extra special on moving day to even entertain an improbable push towards leader Jordan Spieth but could only muster a one-under-par 71.
It was most certainly a case of what could have been as the Queenslander missed seven birdie chances inside 15-feet, five of which were inside 10-feet.
Now at four under for the tournament, Day sits an insurmountable 12 shots behind Spieth in a tie for 12th.
His luck was summed up on the 18th when his long approach cannoned into the back pin and ricocheted all the way off the front of the putting surface.
"I could not buy a putt today. It could have been really low because I definitely gave myself a lot of opportunities on the front nine," Day lamented.
"If one of those goes in, then I know that I would be standing here with a different score, because that just kicks the momentum, that kicks a good round going."
With a birdie on the second hole Day was headed in the right direction but his first short miss came a hole later when he missed from five-feet.
He compounded it with a bogey on the fourth and left the fifth green seething after missing a seven-foot birdie chance.
When a 10-foot chance was short on the following green you could virtually see the steam coming from his ears but things cooled when he made a 28-foot bomb on the seventh.
Hoping to use the momentum he had a 15-foot chance on eight but missed and after hitting an absolutely stunning approach to the ninth from deep in the trees off the pinestraw to just five-feet he once again walked off with only a par.
A 14-foot chance slid past on the 12th and an eight-foot try on 16 curled around the cup to keep up the misery.
"I'm going to try a few different putters tonight. Try and go back to something that I can kind of see something, see the line with," Day said.
"I've got to shoot something really deep tomorrow, obviously. I know I can do it, because I've shot 11 under earlier this year and nine under earlier this year.
"Obviously it's tough to do in a Major, but stranger things have happened."
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