Finding the Kth largest element can be optimized to O(n) only if k is a constant?
The $k$th largest element can be found in time $O(n)$ for all $k$ using a deterministic algorithm. See Wikipedia or many textbooks, such as Cormen et al., Introduction to Algorithms.

Given the $k$th largest element, you can find the $k$ largest elements in $O(n)$ using a simple scan. If all elements are distinct, you just output all elements which are at least as large as the $k$th largest. Without this assumption, you output all elements which are strictly larger than that element, and then enough copies of the $k$th largest one.