Rory McIlroy at PGA Championship 2015: Sunday Leaderboard Score and Reaction

Any chance Rory McIlroy had to defend his PGA Championship crown was largely gone by the end of the third round Saturday. The 26-year-old wrapped up his final round at Whistling Straits on a high note, though, finishing at nine under in 17th place for the tournament.

You can see the full leaderboard below:

It would've taken a feat of almost superhuman nature for McIlroy to climb to the top of the leaderboard Sunday. While this was arguably his most consistent round of the tournament, consistency wasn't enough to jump into contention.

You can view his hole-by-hole scorecard below:

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In
Par	4	5	3	4	5	4	3	4	4	36
Round 4	4	5	3	4	5	3	2	4	4	34
Overall	-6	-6	-6	-6	-6	-7	-8	-8	-8	-8
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	5	3	4	36
Round 4	3	5	3	5	4	4	4	3	4	35
Overall	-9	-9	-9	-8	-8	-8	-9	-9	-9	-9

Expectations for McIlroy weren't high to begin with. Entering the PGA Championship, he hadn't played a competitive round of golf since rupturing a left ankle ligament in July. If anything, recovering in enough time to play in the tournament was a minor miracle.

Speaking after the third round, he admitted a repeat PGA title was likely out of the question.

"I think in the back of your mind you still think you have a chance because that's what your competitive nature tells you," he said Saturday, per Matt Velazquez and Gary D'Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But if you're looking at it realistically, I want to go out there tomorrow and shoot the best score that I've shot this week."

McIlroy didn't quite accomplish that goal, but he has to be heartened with his overall performance at Whistling Straits.

He began his round with five straight pars, avoiding any critical mistakes but finding himself unable to gain ground on the competition.

Back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh holes moved McIlroy up the leaderboard, but PGATour.com's Brian Wacker didn't foresee a title challenge:

McIlroy capped off the front nine with two more pars to post a two-under 34.

A birdie on 10 got his back nine off to a great start, but he failed to fully capitalize upon that with subsequent pars on 11 and 12.

Driving accuracy hasn't been a problem for McIlroy throughout the tournament, but his drive on 13 landed in a fairway bunker. He did himself no favors with his second shot, which ended up in the rough. He still reached the green with a chance for par from a little over 18 feet out. His putt rolled two feet from the hole, though, and he had to settle for a bogey.

Kieran Clark of Golfshake pointed out that putting was one of McIlroy's biggest issues throughout the PGA Championship:

His final birdie of the day came on 16. He launched a 309-yard drive off the tee, which left him a reasonable 236 yards to the hole. His second shot got him on the green, and he two-putted from there to get back to nine under for the tournament.

As if the sting of losing the PGA Championship isn't enough for McIlroy, he might also lose his No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Ranking as well. Golf Central shared the various permutations necessary for Jordan Spieth to take the top spot:

Even if Spieth doesn't overtake McIlroy this Sunday, he'll almost certainly do so in the near future. McIlroy already admitted he will take a bit of a break until the Deutsche Bank Championship on Sept. 4, per ESPN.com's Bob Harig.

Should it happen, McIlroy won't be too upset to fall to No. 2 in the world:

At least he'll still be collecting that nice endorsement money from Omega, which blanketed the airwaves with ads featuring McIlroy, per Fox Sports' Shane Bacon:

The best thing he could do from here is take a vacation. You don't get the impression he rushed back from the ankle injury, but he was a bit rusty.

Perhaps spending some time away from competitive golf will allow McIlroy to get back into tournament shape before he heads to TPC Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship.