A steady putter that made the difference in his first PGA Tour win, and had him tied for the lead through 63 holes in the PGA Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, went cold on the back nine Sunday, and led to a late collapse that sent Chris Stroud sliding down the leaderboard.

Stroud, a Groves native, wound up shooting 42 on the final nine holes, and 76 for the day, leaving him at 1-under for the week. That left him tied for ninth, a result that will look much better after the disappointment of Sunday’s closing nine melts away.

Stroud’s dream of winning a major championship was alive and glowing after birdies at the eighth and ninth holes briefly pulled him into a tie for the lead. He would have been the outright leader but for a trio of putts that burned the edge of the cup earlier in the round.

The slippage, however, began when he missed a 6-foot par putt on the par 4, 11th. Another bogey followed two holes later on the par 3, 13th when he missed from 7 feet.

After missing a 15-foot birdie attempt on 14, he had a great look at birdie on the par 5, 15th that would have pulled him back into the edge of contention. But he missed from inside 7 feet and all the air seemed to go out.

A drive into the water led to double bogey on 16 and bogeys at 17 and 18 followed.

Despite the way it ended, Stroud’s consolation will be that his golf career has been resurrected in the past two weeks. Beyond that first win in the Barracuda Classic, he earned enormous respect across the golf world with his performance in the PGA.

When the 2000 Port Neches-Groves graduate holed his final putt Sunday, CBS’ Jim Nantz saluted his efforts.

“What a two week stretch it’s been for him,” said Nantz, a University of Houston graduate. “Here’s hoping we will see him on a regular basis that much more often on the leaderboard in contention and battling for more titles. He had made the Golden Triangle down in Texas awfully proud.”

Stroud’s season is far from over. He is scheduled to play in next week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, that is the finale of the PGA Tour’s regular season, then. After that, he is guaranteed a spot in the first two events of the four-week FedEx Cup playoffs.

It is possible, though, that Stroud, after playing six consecutive weeks, may opt to withdraw from the Wyndham to rest and recharge his batteries for the playoffs. With a strong showing the first two weeks of the playoffs, he could advance all the way to the finals.

Meanwhile, one of the lingering disappoints of Sunday will surely be the excellent opportunity to get into the 2018 Masters that got away. His win last week earned him entry into virtually everything the next two years but the Masters.

A top-four finish in the PGA Championship would have punched that elusive ticket.