Jason Day admits he behaved like a spoilt brat after believing he had missed the British Open halfway cut.
Day stormed out of Royal Birkdale without explaining his spectacular implosion on Friday, when the world No.6 leaked five shots in his final three holes to slump out of contention.
But the popular Australian apologised after a third-round 65 sent him charging up the leaderboard into a respectable share of 18th spot.
"It wasn't so much that I was angry at thinking I'm missing the cut," Day said.
"It was more so I was angry with I was even par with three holes to go - and I came home in a coffin.
"I was honestly thinking I could par 16, birdie 17, par 18, get it to one-under par and I'm right there."
The 2015 US PGA champion and former world No.1 was shattered, having hoped his star presence on the leaderboard at the halfway mark would send a warning to the field.
"I come into a golf course such as today, you can get something going pretty quickly and then you throw your name up there," Day said.
"You've won some tournaments in the past and people know that you've finished off strong. Hopefully that gives them a little bit of incentive to push on or pull back little bit.
"So I was more angry of how I finished yesterday just because I kind of shot myself in the foot and you can't do that in major championships, especially when you're trying to win a tournament."
Day said his agent came up with a good analogy for his second-round crash.
"It's like the war in the fog," he said.
"So with everything going around you, you're trying to think straight but you can't think straight because there's so much going on and, unfortunately, I just didn't quite have my head switched on the last three holes."
Day said he consoled himself with a movie and ice cream before returning on Saturday to record his lowest-ever round at The Open after a quiet pep talk from his wife.
"It was The Expendables 2, so it was a bit of action," he said.
"I was supposed to go to the gym yesterday. I'm glad I didn't because I probably would have squatted 500 pounds, I was that angry.
"We're in a great position in life. To be able to play at Royal Birkdale in a major championship, we're very gifted. We're very blessed.
"And after I ate some ice cream, I became a lot happier.
"My wife was saying, "Just go out there and just play. You've got nothing to lose now, obviously. You're dead last, anyway, no matter what you're trying to prove.'
"It was great to get out there and shoot the score I did."
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