It was almost the feel good story of the year.
Australian Marc Leishman, who three months ago was told the mother of his two children, Audrey, had a five per cent chance of surviving a rare life-threatening bacterial infection, was suddenly on the brink of greatness - a three-way, four-hole play-off to decide the winner of the Claret Jug at the home of golf in St Andrews.
With his wife recovering alongside their two children, Oliver and Harvey, in their Virginia Beach home, the 31-year-old Victorian fell agonisingly short of etching his name into golf folklore.
He fell three shots short of winner Zach Johnson, who added the Claret Jug to his Masters triumph in 2007, with Leishman finishing tied second with Louis Oosthuizen.
Despite falling short, Leishman said it was the best he has ever played.
"I've never put four really good rounds together like that," he told reporters after landing a bumper cheque for £536,500 pounds ($1.13 million).
"I've probably putted better, I've probably driven it better, I've hit my irons better but put all together, that's probably the best week I've had."
Leishman gained the lead after the 13th hole when he went to 16 under, but a bogey on the 16th saw the Australian drop back and eventually forced into a play-off he was unable to win.
"That hole [the 16th] was disappointing," said Leishman who now lives in the US and has one PGA Tour win to his name. "I actually didn't hit that bad a putt, it just didn't do what I thought it was going to do.
"I hit a really good bunker shot and I didn't finish it off."
As his wife lay in an induced coma after toxic shock syndrome began shutting down her organs in April, the least of Leishman's concerns was a golf career that looked like coming to a horrible end.
"I feel like I've always had a pretty good outlook on life and now it takes a lot more to worry me," he explained earlier this week.
"I don't get annoyed about little things that I cannot really help. When you hit a bad shot there's no real point getting frustrated about it.
"I feel like even if I do have a bad day I can still go home and hopefully give my wife a hug and cuddle my two boys," said Leishman.
In an incredible turn of fate, the Warrnambool-born Leishman produced one of the most remarkable runs in The Open history with 14 under on the final two days to reach the play-off, including the tournament-best round of 64 in the third.
Victory would have seen him join golfing greats Peter Thomson and the late Kel Nagle as the only Australians to win The Open at the iconic Old Course at St Andrews.
But a bogey on the first hole of the play-off would seal his fate, joining fellow Australians Jason Day and Adam Scott in a heartbreaking afternoon.
The trio went in search of becoming the first Australian since Greg Norman in 1993 to win The Open, and at some stage throughout the course of the final day, each player led.
But one by one they perished.
First it was Scott, who, after gaining a share of the lead with six birdies in his first 10 holes, dropped five shots in the final five holes - including a double bogey on the 18th, to finish five shots off the leaders at 10 under.
"I'll be disappointed the way I played the last five holes for sure," Scott said.
"I could have done a lot better than that. Yeah, it's a shame not to get in there and finish with a shot, that's for sure, but maybe it was too much to ask today."
Day (14 under) started the round in a three-way share of the lead, and despite struggling to find his mojo, had a putt on the 18th to join the play-off.
Unfortunately the Queenslander was reduced to tears after the 25-foot (7.6-metre) putt fell a foot short, while his partner Jordan Spieth (14 under) missed a similar length putt to qualify for the play-off.
"Yeah, I've been working very hard to try and accomplish my first major, and you know, it's a little frustrating with how it finished," Day said.
"But I've been in contention at major championships a lot now, and it just shows I'm doing the right things, and I can't look at it as a negative. I'm just a little frustrated because I just walked off the course about five minutes ago. Give it time so I can just sit down and look at what the positives were and move on from there and just try and get better."
