PGA Championship 2022 - Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas missed another chance at a major moment

TULSA, Okla. — The 14th hole at Southern Hills Country Club is a monstrous par-3, the kind of hole that can demoralize even the best golfers in the world. But Saturday, Rory McIlroy hit a 5-iron there that I would contend was the best shot of the entire PGA Championship.

It was the perfect synthesis of controlled violence and athletic poetry. He roped a high draw 222 yards through the cold, breezy Oklahoma sky, and when the ball landed, it hopped once and kissed the flagstick. It could have gone in, but it didn't, deflecting slightly to the left and stopping a foot away. A few minutes later, he tapped in for his second consecutive birdie.

There was only one problem. It would take a miracle Sunday for that shot to even matter.

Saturday marked another maddening, deflating, exasperating round from McIlroy at a major, and if he's honest with himself (which he usually is) this one may sting for a bit. He shot a 4-over 74 on a day when anything around even par would have kept him in contention. Even with that birdie on 14, he played the par 3s collectively in 5-over on the day, making a double bogey on the sixth and a triple bogey on the 11th.

Early in the week, when McIlroy opened with a sizzling 65 in the first round, it looked like he was poised to snap his eight-year drought at majors, announcing his presence with a roar. Now he seems like he has slunk back into the wilderness, a once-vicious lion who has forgotten how to hunt. When he bogeyed the 18th hole to slip back to even par for the tournament, he hung his head in silent disappointment.

It will serve as little solace, but McIlroy may have some company in the wilderness. Justin Thomas fired a dismal, discouraging 74 of his own in the third round, and he'll need a