2022 PGA Championship Recap

By Ethan Kilbreath

Image taken from ⒸCLUTCHSPORTS

Pereira falters on final hole, Justin Thomas returns to glory

Leading by one stroke entering the 18th hole at Southern Hills, Mito Pereira practically had his left hand on the Wanamaker Trophy.

With Pereira needing just a par to win on the final hole, Justin Thomas filled out his scorecard in the clubhouse, penciling in an assumed second-place finish after shooting a red-hot 67 on Sunday.

But when Pereira teed off on the par-4 in pursuit of his first ever PGA tour victory, it was evident that something was awry, as a distorted swing sent the ball nose-diving into the creek.

The Chilean could only watch in horror as the splash put him on the defensive, realistically aiming for a bogey to preserve a tie and include himself in a 3-man playoff.

But even the bogey eluded Pereira, and by the time his sixth shot mercifully trickled into the hole, it marked a double bogey-his first of the tournament-at the worst possible time.

In a stunning twist of events, Justin Thomas was resurrected for a three-hole playoff with Will Zalatoris.

Thomas coolly sank two birdie putts on the first two playoff holes, and with a par on the final hole, he had completed an improbable comeback from seven shots behind to win the tournament.

It was the second major victory for Thomas, previously winning the PGA championship at Quail Hollow in 2017, and re-establishes him as a top five golfer in the world after holding the #1 ranking in 2018.

For Zalatoris, a PGA tour win is only a matter of time, with Southern Hills marking his 14th career top 10 placement, and his second runner-up finish in a major (2021 Masters).

Despite lacking the hardware to show for it, the 25-year-old Zalatoris ranks 14th in the world rankings and 13th in the FedEx Cup standings, and a win appears to be on the horizon.

Mcilroy again comes up short

After blistering through the golf world to begin his career, winning four majors in a four-year span from 2011-2014, there’s somehow an unshakeable feeling that Rory Mcilroy has left something to be desired.

Given that the Northern Irishman has been the most prolific golfer on planet Earth in the past decade, criticism of Mcilroy may be grasping at straws. But despite all his successes, the elephant in the room remains for Mcilroy: he’s winless in major tournaments since the 2014 PGA Championship.

After the opening round at Southern Hills, the golfing world began to perk its ears when Mcilroy shot a 5-under 65, pacing the field with the solo lead.

But lukewarm performances on Friday and Saturday perched Rory at +3 entering Sunday, and it was slipping away as the leaders of the field began to charge ahead.

Mcilroy began the final round in a sprint to the finish line, with birdies in four of the first five holes. The top of the leaderboard began to peer over their collective shoulder, bracing for a final round Rory charge akin to his Augusta performance in April.

But if Zalatoris and co. heard Rory coming, the footsteps quickly faded away as Mcilroy tapered off on the back nine, finishing -2 on the day and +1 overall for a respectable, yet disappointing top 10 finish.

Rory Mcilroy has nothing left to prove. He’s a two-time FedEx cup winner, has sat atop the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) for a total of 106 weeks, and has achieved more on a golf course than most professionals dare to dream of. Still, a sense of urgency continues to mount for Mcilroy, as the 33-year-old is the only member of a youth-filled OWGR top 10 in his 30s.

Rory is not going anywhere. He will continue to compete at the highest level, and he will have a plethora of major tournaments to contend for in the coming years. But major victories don’t grow on trees, and the stinging fact is that the PGA championship was another missed opportunity for Rory to etch his name alongside the all-time greats.

Handful of elites struggle

The PGA championship was a friendly reminder that no one is exempt from a few frustrating rounds of golf.

The indestructible Scottie Scheffler, the world’s #1 player, missed the cut at +6. World #6 Patrick Cantlay joined Scheffler’s early departure from Southern Hills.

Fellow top 10 participants Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, and Jordan Spieth all struggled, sputtering early and never posing a real threat in the tournament.

Perhaps the most disappointing of the batch was Spieth, who was coming off a second-place finish at Byron Nelson, and a victory at RBC Heritage.

With Spieth still needing a victory at the PGA Championship to secure the lucrative career grand slam, all eyes were on the legendary grouping of Spieth-Mcilroy-Woods.

But the 28-year-old Texan will have to wait another year for grand slam immortality, and instead will turn his attention to June’s U.S. Open in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Reach reporter Ethan Kilbreath at ethanarl@uw.edu. Twitter: @EthanArles.