Rory McIlroy agonizingly finishes second, again

Horschel looked sheepishly at McIlroy after the putt dropped, admitting in his post-round interview on the Golf Channel that he was “a little disappointed.”

“Rory's a really good friend of mine,” Horschel said candidly. “I think the world of him, I think he's a generational talent, and I know how close he's been this year.”

The Northern Irishman was three shots back of the lead entering Sunday’s final round. After making a clutch eagle on hole 17, he tied the lead and hung on for a three-man playoff.

Thriston Lawrence made bogey on the first playoff hole, leaving Horschel and McIlroy to duel it out for the win.

The BMW PGA Championship marks McIlroy’s fourth second-place finish this year. However, this close defeat felt different than the others.

With a three-shot lead in June’s U.S. Open, the event that marked a decade since McIlroy’s last major win, he missed two short putts, including a three-footer on the 18th, to open the door for Bryson DeChambeau.

A month later, when doing media for the British Open, the world No. 2 golfer admitted he wasn’t in the “right head space” during the US Open, worrying more about DeChambeau’s positioning than focusing on his own game.

The heartbreak continued in early September during McIlroy’s homecoming to Northern Ireland at the Irish Open. Entering the final round at Royal County Down, he led by four shots but bogeyed holes 15 and 17. Rasmus Hojgaard snatched the victory by one shot.

This weekend’s competition played out differently, with McIlroy becoming the hunter instead of the hunted. He showed a resilience and focus that was missing from his last few signature events. While he continues to fall short of that elusive victory, the manner of his defeat at Wentworth should inspire optimism.

McIlroy played exceptional when he needed to most, not getting in his own way as he did many times this year. Horschel simply drained a world-class putt.

Unlike after his second-place finish at the US Open, when he exited the venue without speaking to the media, McIlroy gave an honest assessment of his play after Sunday’s defeat.

“I’m playing well,” he told Sky Sports. “I’m giving myself chances … I just got to dust myself off and get myself ready for my last three events of the year.”