Projecting Tiger Woods' Day 4 Score at 2013 PGA Championship

For the fifth straight calendar year, Tiger Woods will walk away without having won a major championship.

While facing an uphill battle heading into Saturday's third round of the 2013 PGA Championship, the world's top-ranked golfer confirmed he'd finish the event in relative anonymity after a frustrating third round.

Woods carded a three-over 73 on the day, compiling just one birdie against four bogeys to assure himself an early Sunday tee time.

He came into the third round 10 strokes behind 36-hole leader Jason Dufner, but could have worked himself back into fringe contention with a solid round.

The leaders, having dominated the Pittsford, N.Y. course throughout the week, struggled Saturday as the PGA finally started resembling a major championship.

Here is how the leaderboard stacks up after a difficult third round:

But Woods could not take advantage. Following rounds of 71 and 70 to start his tournament, he again floundered with just about every facet of his game. He was errant off the tee, bad on the putting surface and at times it felt like a near-miracle that he was even hovering around even par.

Woods spoke after the round about just how everything fell apart for him in Round 3. 

"Well, it was hard for me," Woods said (h/t ESPN's Bob Harig). "I didn't play very well today. I didn't hit very good, didn't make anything, kept blocking every putt. So it was a tough day."

Here is a look at a hole-by-hole breakdown of how the 37-year-old American's day played out. 

It was an eerily similar outcome to how the first two days played out. He was over par before getting to the second tee, and carded a second bogey on No. 3 to make it quite clear there would be no comeback story. A birdie on No. 11 gave a temporary reprieve before bogeys at Nos. 16 and 17 finalized his score around some par scrambles and two-putts. 

Perhaps the only "positive" of Woods' Saturday afternoon is that he didn't finish with an over-par score for the first time all tournament. He had gone three over on his final holes of the day thus far, double-bogeying No. 9 on Thursday and coughing up a stroke on No. 18 Friday. 

While Woods' game as a whole has been off throughout the week, we're getting an increasing sample that suggests he just doesn't like Oak Hill. ESPN Stats & Info pointed out that he's never carded an under-par score at the New York course in seven PGA Championship rounds:

To contrast, Woods is coming off one of his finest performance of the season, a seven-stroke victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. It was the eighth time he won the event, which is held every year at Firestone Country Club.

Coupled with wins at the Bay Hill and Doral earlier this year—two of his all-time favorite courses—one has to wonder whether he's reached the point in his career where he's only great when fully comfortable. Maybe you can't teach an old Tiger new tricks?

Sorry. I'll table that one.

As for Woods, he took a more pragmatic approach to his struggles, as reported by ESPN.

"That's golf," said Woods. "We don't play well every week. Unfortunately I happened to get that this week."

Whether it's just "golf" or Woods is simply ill-equipped to handle a course many of his contemporaries have found quite easy this week is unclear. What's abundantly clear, though, is that it doesn't seem likely to turn around Sunday morning.

Woods has been absolutely miserable with the driver all week long, often eschewing it in favor of a more conservative iron. Perhaps he should just leave the driver at home altogether Sunday in hope of a more respectable round. He took four drivers during his third round, and the following GIF was the result:

Overall, Woods hit just four of 15 fairways. That led to some understandably snarky comments by Golf Channel's Tiger Tracker:

What emanates from these first 54 holes is a sense of resignation. Woods came into the event again favored to capture a major championship—again. Four majors in 2013, four pre-tournament favorite standings and four disappointments.

To take it a step further, Jason Sobel of Golf Channel tweeted out the perfect sentiment for those who thought Woods would be holding the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday:

Without no chance of winning Sunday—unless a gigantic ice cream truck comes and plows over everyone in the field not named Tiger Woods—the world's greatest golfer will end his 2013 major season quietly.

He'll walk to the tee box as folks are eating their Sunday breakfasts or getting ready for church, and he'll play before a gallery that will be more interested in antagonizing than cheering him on.

This is the price that comes with being Tiger Woods.

It may be possible that Woods rights the ship Sunday, something like a three-under 67 proving a minor moral victory in a sea of disappointment. While I think that Woods has had a fantastic season—five victories, folks—it won't satiate the narrative-driven society.

The questions about what changed in him that fateful Thanksgiving night will remain. As will the Schadenfreudian glee some folks get out of seeing him fall just short.

And it's very likely that Woods' great non-major season will continue. Perhaps he'll win the FedEx Cup. Or he'll continue dwarfing the tour in scoring average and earnings. 

But whatever improvements he makes Sunday are relatively inconsequential in the long-term. A seven-month period awaits for Woods between now and the 2014 Masters. By then he'll be 38 years old, nearly six years removed from his last major championship title.

The "can he do it?" storylines will be the same, and Woods will almost certainly be the best player in the world. He'll probably even be favored.

But if this week and the 2013 season has taught us anything, it's that it's no longer a question of when Woods will win another major—it's if.

Tiger Woods Score Prediction: 67 (-3), Even-Par for the Tournament

Follow Tyler Conway on Twitter: