Cameron Tringale's meltdown highlights PGA Championship's brutal finishing stretch

When Cameron Tringale stepped onto the 14th tee of the PGA Championship Friday, he looked like he was headed for a weekend of battling with the leaders.

Five holes later, he was probably checking his phone for the first flight out of town.

Tringale was 13 over par during that stretch, including a triple bogey on 14, a quintuple bogey on 16, a quad bogey on 17 and a regular old bogey on 18.

When he stepped to the 14th tee, he was -3, just two shots back of the lead. When he walked off the 18th green, he was +10 ... 15 back.

Because he had a 10th tee start, he managed to recover a bit in his final 9 holes and ended the day at +8. It was too little, too late.

Welcome to the Kiawah Island Ocean Course in South Carolina, where the wheels can come off in the blink of an eye.

Players knew coming into the week that 14-18 were going to be a serious test. It includes two long, tough par 3s (14 and 17) and a brutally difficult par-4 18th hole. Those holes only became more challenging with 20-plus mph wind gusts on Friday afternoon.

Tringale's nightmare began with a tee shot in the left rough of the 14th, followed by two bad chips and a missed 4-foot putt. The triple bogey dropped him from 3-under (tied for second place at the time) to even par on the tournament, still well within the projected cutline.

Then things really came apart on the par-5 16th. It started with two straight tee shots in the water and, well, shot tracker probably best illustrates how things went from there.

And more trouble on the 17th.

By the time he holed out for a bogey on the 18th, he was 10-over with the cutline hovering around 4-over. In other words, game over.

A 33-year-old PGA Tour veteran who's 66th in the world and 38th in this season's FedEx Cup standings was brought to his knees in a little more than an hour at Kiawah.

Perhaps it's proof that this is one of the toughest stretches of golf in the world.

Give Tringale credit, though. He shot 2-under on his back nine, meaning he went 48-34 for a 10-over 82 on the day.

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