Inconsistent Rory Falls Out Of Contention at Southern Hills Saturday

PGA Championship dream likely over for Rory McIlroy after difficult Saturday.

There were high hopes for Rory McIlroy coming into this year’s PGA Championship and those expectations and excitement only increased after a sensational start to this year’s championship on Thursday.

One of the things that have hurt Rory’s chances in Majors since his last win in 2014 were slow and sluggish starts.

That certainly wasn’t the case this week as the four-time Major winner got off to an excellent start and led the PGA Championship after an opening-round 65. The start to the week in combination with Mcllroy’s form coming into the week, two top 5s in his previous two starts, and his charge up the leaderboard on Sunday at the Masters where he fired an electric final round 64, led to an increased belief that this would finally be the week that McIlroy ended his Major drought.

McIlroy himself felt confident about his game heading into this year’s PGA Championship saying that he was really happy with the state of his game coming into this week. Rory even commented earlier in the week that he really ‘liked the course, especially the green complexes’.

All signs were positive that McIlroy may have finally been turning a page in his recent Major history. Things took a turn for the worse during his second round however as he was unable to extend his lead at the top and even lost grip of it after a one-over-par, 71.  The positive was that he was still in contention and had managed to avoid the costly ‘blow-up’ round that has so often led to his demise on this stage since his last win in a Major.

The Northern Irishman was just a handful of shots behind leader Will Zalatoris heading into moving day.

Rory McIlroy all but has PGA Championship dream end on Saturday at Southern Hills.

McIlroy was unable to avoid having that costly round that takes him out of contention once again this week and that round happened on Saturday at Southern Hills. He managed to avoid the big mistake through his first five holes but at the same time was unable to capitalize on the few scoring opportunities that presented themselves. The putter, which had been so hot on Thursday (+3.33), cooled off on Friday (-0.19) and was flat-out ice-cold on Saturday. Rory lost -3.86 strokes with the flat stick on moving day and it would have an impact on his entire round.

The first big mistake of Mcllroy’s round came on the difficult par 3, 6th hole after he had hit his tee shot into the water. He was unable to salvage a bogey and instead suffered a double. The mistake on the 6th was followed by two more consecutive dropped shots across the next two holes where he at times seemed to lose focus and displayed a lack of concentration.

McIlroy would bounce back with several birdies on his back nine, one of those resulting from an excellent tee shot on the par 3, 14th hole, that just narrowly missed going directly into the hole. The inconsistencies had once again reared their ugly head earlier though as McIlroy suffered a triple-bogey earlier on the 11th. He would go on to record a 74 when all was said and done.

The 33-year-old would have been five shots back of leader Mito Pereira going into Sunday had he just shot even par on moving day, even less than that had he kept a clean card on Saturday, either way, he would have remained in contention. That was all something which he failed to do, yet again in a Major, instead he had that one disastrous round that has so often taken away even the possibility of winning on Sunday.

Sure he had the extraordinary final round at the Masters that resulted in him soaring up the leaderboard into second when all was said and done, but let’s not forget that the magnificent Scheffler double-bogeyed the last and still walked away with a three-shot victory over McIlroy. One could certainly argue whether or not Rory was ever really truly in contention at Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy had previously shot two rounds over par before that final round 64. Whether it be a result of sluggish starts or that one disastrous round the simple fact of that matter is that he isn’t getting it done when it matters, or even giving himself a realistic chance.

Instead, he wilts before making a Sunday charge into the top 10. He is bound to finish with a similar result on Sunday at Southern Hills, the true reality is though, that once again his Major ambitions are likely over yet again at a Major championship.