Jason Day is looking forward to stowing his clubs away and not even thinking about golf after an Australian Open final-round fade ensured his first winless year since 2012.
Fans flocked anticipating Day getting his hands on the Stonehaven Cup for the first time in just his fourth appearance, when he took a one-shot lead into Sunday's windy final round at The Australian in Sydney.
But his closing two-over-par 73 was the equal-worst score among the top 18 finishers as he ended in fifth spot, three shots adrift of shock winner 22-year-old Cameron Davis, who was nine shots better for the round.
Day's biggest stumble came after he drove into a bunker on the par-4 ninth, when his seven-iron second shot clipped the lip and flew into the water hazard, leading to a double bogey.
"It was tough (conditions), yes, but there were plenty of scores in the 60s," Day said.
"I just didn't play my best and obviously it's not great to shoot 2-over par on the final round when you've got the lead.
"I played three terrific rounds actually and I just didn't put it together on Sunday."
Day, who has not won since the Players Championship in May 2016, saw it as symptomatic of his 2017 golf year.
Many golfers would be happy with Day's year - five top 10s on the US tour and about $US3 million in prize money banked and he qualified for the 30-man season-ending Tour Championship.
But it pales in comparison to the previous two years which returned a total of eight wins, including a major, about $17.4 million earned on-course and the No.1 ranking he held for 51 weeks.
Having turned 30 this month, he said earlier this week he was determined to fight back from his world No.12 ranking and wanted to dominate the top spot for years.
But right now he just wants to take a break.
"I am looking forward to getting some time off and trying to decompress a little bit and not even think about golf," said Day.
"This whole year I've been kind of stressing about how I can get better and better and better.
"Unfortunately when you worry about playing good, sometimes you can actually worry about it too much and, force of habit a little bit, actually not end up playing good at all.
"So, I've just got to relax a little bit and try and take some time off and get into next year and see how it goes."
