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Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson endured torrid days as their hopes of climbing into US PGA contention disappeared in ignominious fashion at Oak Hill.

World number one Woods was a shadow of the player who strolled to his fifth title of the year by seven shots on Sunday and carded a three-over 73 to slide to four over.

Open champion Mickelson, ranked second, fared worse with an eight-over 78.

"Not joyous, that's for sure," Woods said of his week.

Woods cut a disconsolate figure on the course on Friday after treading water with a level-par 70 as others lit up Oak Hill, and he quickly called an emergency session with swing coach Sean Foley on the driving range.

But there were few signs of improvement on Saturday, and he seemed unable to implement any of his recent putting work with fellow pro Steve Stricker.

The 14-time major champion began the day 10 shots behind leader Jason Dufner but was further in arrears after catching rough off the tee on the first and then hitting a tree with his second.

Another bogey followed at the third after missing the green and failing to get up and down in two. He made an encouraging birdie on the 11th but Woods's driver was a liability and his putter misfired from close range.

Two more bogeys followed on the 16th and 17th before a decent 10ft putt to save par on the last.

Barring a miracle, the 37-year-old will now have to wait until next April to resume his quest for a 15th major title and first since 2008.

"I just haven't got my takeaway right. It's off," said Woods, who shot a second-round 61 on the way to his WGC-Invitational win last week.

"Consequently the whole patterning is off. Just one of those weeks where it's just a fraction off, and a fraction off on a set-up like this, it's going to cost me.

"When I do it right, I hit some sweet shots. And when I do it wrong, I'm struggling. Today for some reason I kept blocking every putt. I burned a few edges out there and it just wasn't quite right.

"In the middle part I was grinding just to kind of hang in there around par.

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

Asked if he might be pressing too hard to end his five-year major drought, Woods said: "As far as overall game plan and the way I'm playing, I've been there in enough of these things where I've been right there in the back nine on Sunday with a chance. As far as that's concerned, no."

Mickelson, who won the Scottish Open the week before clinching his first Claret Jug and fifth major title, sprayed the ball all over Oak Hill's East Course.

The left-hander went out in 39, courtesy of a birdie, two bogeys and a triple bogey on the seventh after finding trees and rough.

Another birdie followed at the 12th but the 43-year-old then finished in disastrous fashion. He double-bogeyed the 14th after putting back off the green and followed it up with further bogeys at 15, 17 and 18 to end 10 over, 74th of the 75 players to make the cut.