Entering the weekend five behind Spieth, McIlroy came storming out for the third round with three birdies in his first five holes. But on the par-3 sixth hole, he pulled a short iron, leaving him with a downhill lie in high grass to an uphill pin about 30 feet away. It wasn’t an easy shot, but one that it was easy to envision Spieth getting within five feet. But rather than give the ball a firm bump into the hill McIlroy decelerated and fluffed the ball less than halfway to the hole, making a momentum-stopping bogey. Worse, on the next hole, after leaving a short approach 10 yards short of the green, McIlroy mishit a straightforward pitch-and-run, the ball skidding 20 feet past the hole. Ultimately, McIlroy had a strong Sunday to finish T-4, but in terms of the small margins that determine who wins major championships, his short game had unnecessarily left him too much to do.