Rory McIlroy dominates, Keegan Bradley finishes tied for 3rd in PGA Championship

There was never much doubt.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland pulled away from the entire 2012 PGA Championship field on Sunday to win his second career major title. His bogey-free 6-under 66 in the final round at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island (SC) dazzled the the golf world and reinforced why he is one of the sport's best young talents.

McIlroy's 8-stroke margin of victory is the largest in the PGA Championship history, and is the same amount he won by at last year's U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. At 23 years and three months old, he becomes the youngest golfer to win two major championships since the legendary Steve Ballesteros.

St. John's graduate and former golf team captain Keegan Bradley didn't defend his PGA title from a year ago, as some may have expected him to, but he did give a very strong showing. Fresh off of a win last week at the Bridgestone Invitational, Bradley finished the year's final major at 4-under and tied for third place.

Bradley shot under par in three of the four rounds this week at Kiawah, but it was his second round struggles on Friday that kept him out of serious contention during the final round. But it's likely that no one was catching McIlroy on Sunday anyway.

After this weekend, Bradley currently stands in fourth place in the United States Ryder Cup standings. The top eight golfers on the list are automatically selected to the team that will take on Europe in late September.

The 2012 tour season still has the FedEx Cup Playoffs left in a few weeks, but Keegan Bradley can safely say that he has backed up his impressive season he had as a rookie a year ago. He has certainly positioned himself as one of America's best players.

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