Mito Pereira said he felt the pressure during his painful collapse on the 18th hole, which cost him the US PGA Championship.
The Chilean has never won on the PGA Tour, but after leading by three strokes heading into Sunday's play, he appeared poised to win 2022's second major when he stepped up to the 18th tee with a one-stroke lead. It could have been a two-stroke lead, but his birdie putt on the 17th came up just inches short.
The 27-year-old sliced his tee shot on the 18th hole, the ball eventually bouncing into the small creek. A bogey would have seen him join the playoff but his approach to the green went long, and the ensuing chip also dribbled off the back of the putting surface, ending in a double-bogey.
Speaking to the media as Will Zalatoris and eventual winner Justin Thomas competed in the three-hole playoff, Pereira said he was still proud of his efforts.
"It's tough, you know, to finish like that," he said. "A really good week, but I didn't play really well today.
"I just needed to do a couple more birdies, and hit it a little bit better to win.
"I'm just happy with how the week turned out – on Monday I just wanted to make the cut, and on Sunday I wanted to win. I'll take this and learn for the future."
When asked about his performance on the 18th, he called it "weird", admitting he did not consider the possibility of the water coming into play.
"I was okay – it was weird," he said.
"[The drive] wasn't a good stroke, but I just wasn't thinking about the water. I thought it was weird that it went in [the water].
"I guess when you have so much pressure on your body, maybe you don't even know what you're doing."
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler closing in on victory at Hilton Head
Scottie Scheffler’s PGA Tour dominance looks to be showing no signs of slowing down as the world number one heads into the final day of the RBC Heritage with a one shot lead on 16 under.
Fresh off securing his second Masters title in three years, the 27-year-old shot up the leaderboard at Hilton Head on Saturday with a bogey-free third round score of eight under 63.
He leads by one stroke from Austria’s Sepp Straka, while America’s Collin Morikawa sits outright third on 14 under.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy carded a second straight round of 68 to be tied for 12th place on 10 under.
Meanwhile, defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick is tied for 25th after the Englishman carded a third round score of 70.
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