McIlroy's wild ride leads him on fringe of PGA contention

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The brilliant Northern Irishman who set the record for largest margin of victory in the PGA Championship a decade ago will need to mount his biggest comeback Sunday if he wants to win a third Wanamaker Trophy.

First-round leader Rory McIlroy, whose stellar start turned into a stunning slide down the leaderboard Saturday, offset four birdies with three bogeys, a double and a triple during his wild ride around Southern Hills. By the time he missed a 15-footer for par at the 18th, leaving him with a 4-over 74, McIlroy found himself nine shots back of leader Mito Pereira.

Impossible? Almost, but not quite.

Jack Burke Jr. rallied from eight down to Ken Venturi in the final round of the 1956 Masters to win. Paul Lawrie overcame a 10-shot deficit to Jean Van de Velde during the 1999 British Open, eventually winning that in a playoff.

“I think you’ve got to go out and get it," said second-round leader Will Zalatoris, who shot 73 on Saturday to finish three shots back with Matt Fitzpatrick at 6 under. "Everybody’s got to go out and earn it.”

The long, vexing Southern Hills is certainly capable of producing some crazy scores in both directions.

There was Tiger Woods, who squeaked into the weekend and shot 79 on Saturday before withdrawing, and Zalatoris, who made four bogeys on his first nine before a strong finish kept him within range of Pereira's 9-under target.

On the flip side was Bubba Watson, whose 63 on Friday matched the PGA record, and Webb Simpson, who went out early Saturday and shot 65 to go from making the cut on the number to a tie for 10th heading into Sunday.

“It’s hard to chase here because the golf course is so hard. It’s really hard to go out and get a fast start,” Simpson said. “I mean,