Yesterday proved to be a catastrophic day on the course for Bermuda's Jarryd Dillas.

After a blistering two-under-par 69 in Friday's opening round of the Orange Bowl Junior Golf Championship at Biltmore Golf Club in Coral Gables, Florida, which placed him among the top five, Dillas followed up on Saturday with an even par 71 that saw him finish the day in third place and remain in contention for honours.

But his game fell completely apart yesterday when he struggled with a whopping 12-over-par 83 that saw him plummet to 30th.

"It was definitely a difficult day for me," he said. "But it wasn't always that way as I was one under through seven rounds and even through ten. "However, I made a poor swing on the 11th tee and ended up with a double bogey and my game seemed to do downhill from there.

"I tried to keep it together but I only got more flustered and let things get away from me real fast. With everybody else playing well it was hard for me to hope of catching up."

Dillas had to fight off the discomfort of a cold and sore throat but refused to attribute those problems to his demise.

The conditions were right for him to excel, he reckoned.

"My health wasn't improving and in fact my throat was worse, but that's no excuse for playing badly today," he said. "But I have a great desire to try and salvage a good round (today) even though I am totally out of the running after starting out pretty good in the first two rounds.

"I definitely want to put another good round together before it's all over. I am swinging and hitting the ball very good, but my putting hasn't been good at all. I just couldn't get them to fall today."