OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Australian Stephen Leaney didn’t mind the consolation prizes he took home for finishing second to Jim Furyk yesterday in the 2003 U.S. Open.

“I’ve got my U.S. Tour card for the next two years, which is what I wanted and I’ve got the Masters,” he said. “So I guess there are some good things to come of it.”

Still, Leaney, owner of three European Tour wins, was disappointed at not being able to overcome Furyk’s three-shot lead heading into the final round. Leaney never got any closer, shooting a 2-over-par 72.

He was down by as much as five strokes entering the back nine, but got to within three again with a birdie on the par-4 13th.

“I really believed after 13 that I was actually going to win,” he said. “I thought I could bring it back, but it just wasn’t to be.”

Furyk birdied the par-4 14th to regain control and Leaney never had a chance again.

“I proved to myself that my golf game is good enough to handle the pressure and handle the situation,” he said. “Next time it comes about, hopefully I can draw on this experience and it’ll help me in the future.”

Anyone with a mild chance of catching Furyk or Leaney fell out of contention early, making the final group feel more like a match-play competition.

“I knew that if I kept the honor every hole I was going to have a chance,” Leaney said, “but once I lost the honor for a few holes I didn’t have a chance to put the pressure on him on the tee.”

Leaney got into the final group by shooting 67-68-68 over the first three rounds. He was somewhat annoyed that he wasn’t getting much attention despite his impressive showing.

“Everybody seemed to be talking about Nick Price and Vijay [Singh] making a charge for the tournament and I didn’t get a mention,” he said. “I wasn’t surprised about it. People don’t know my game. Hopefully, [now] people will realize that I can play and that I have a chance to win these sorts of tournaments.”