Jason Day, Justin Thomas come up just short at The American Express

Former world No. 1s Jason Day and Justin Thomas gave themselves a chance in the final round of The American Express at the Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta, California, on Sunday.

Neither, though, put much pressure on Sepp Straka (70, 25 under), who cruised to victory by two over Thomas (66) and three over Day (69) and Justin Lower (69).

“Hit it very nice,” Day said. “A lot of the stuff that I was working on has definitely carried over, which is good, definitely, from Sentry, and just work out the putting. I feel like I gave myself a lot of opportunities out there; I'm a good putter, so I just didn't capitalize on the opportunities.”

Day, a 13-time PGA TOUR winner, bogeyed the 14th and 18th holes and lost more than two and a half strokes to the field on the greens Sunday. The good news is his T3 finish surpassed his best last year (T4, Truist Championship).

What’s more, Day now heads to one of his happiest places on TOUR, the Farmers Insurance Open, where he’s a two-time winner (2015, ’18).

Thomas was in the picture to potentially nab his 16th PGA TOUR victory after going 6-under par for his first 11 holes. But with his first win in over two and a half years in the balance he made a series of pars on the back nine leading to a final-round 66 and 23-under finish, two back.

“I had a chance,” said Thomas, whose last win remains the 2022 PGA Championship. “It wasn't obviously a great one on the back nine, but I was proud of myself, I did what I needed to do on the front nine today and at least be making some noise and kind of moving up the leaderboard.”

Thomas missed birdie putts of 11 feet at the 13th hole, just over 10 feet at the 16th, and 15 feet at the difficult par-4 finishing hole. Although he didn’t putt as poorly as Day, he, too, ranked in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Putting in Round 4.

“I was far from my best stuff this week,” Thomas said “I feel like I managed everything really well and got it around well, only two bogeys all week.”

He has three top-threes in his last four starts including last fall’s Baycurrent Classic (T2) and unofficial Hero World Challenge (solo third). Last year he reached the TOUR Championship but fell short of making the U.S. Presidents Cup team. He and his wife Jillian welcomed their first child, Molly Grace, on Nov. 18, 2024.

Thomas tied for third at The American Express last year after a nine-year absence.