Now batting for career slam: Spieth
Jordan's 9-year quest to complete major sweep with PGA win is different than McIlroy's
Jordan Spieth has had his eye on the Wanamaker Trophy still 2017 (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The quest for the career grand slam continues this week in Charlotte, NC. It’s received far less attention that Rory McIlroy’s attempts at winning the Masters and completing the task of winning all four major championships. But Jordan Spieth’s journey is compelling in its own right.
Spieth heads to the Quail Hollow Club and the PGA Championship in search of the only major he has yet to claim. It’s his ninth opportunity to pick up the last piece of the puzzle and join the six others who have finished the slam.
The biggest and most obvious difference between Spieth and McIlroy is that while the Northern Irish golfer who defeated Justin Rose in a playoff at Augusta National has been a consistent winner over the 11 years it took him to finally get the green jacket, Spieth, frankly, has not.
Since winning the Open Championship in 2017 at Royal Birkdale for his third major title — along with the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 — Spieth has just two PGA Tour victories. His career has stalled out at 13 wins. It’s now been three years since his last victory at the 2022 RBC Heritage and the idea of winning more majors has been overshadowed by simply winning anything at all.
Perhaps for that reason, Spieth has taken the career slam quest in stride. He doesn’t see it as the burden of expectation that McIlroy felt on his shoulders. The idea of winning again — and overcoming the injuries he’s dealt with including wrist surgery last year — is more urgent.
“I think it would have been more difficult, like, back in the day,” said Spieth, who has already played the PGA Championship eight times with a chance to complete the slam. “I don't feel like it would be as difficult now for some reason. I think, just having played so many of them and then you just play so many tournaments, it’s like, ‘oh, it’s another tournament.’ It’s easier to win that way versus putting any extra emphasis anywhere.
“Sure, you do want it. I want it — like I’m trying to think about three years ago when I had a chance on the last few holes. It’s like I don’t remember that feeling different from many other events other than off the course. Off the course it means more, but when you’re there, it’s just like you’ve got to play this shot to this spot and try to make birdie.”
Spieth was actually referring to six years ago, the only time he’s finished in the top 10 at the PGA since the slam became possible for him. He finished third at Bethpage Black in 2019, but he ended up six shots back of winner Brooks Koepka and four back of second-place finisher Dustin Johnson.
In fact, Spieth has not been much of a factor at the PGA Championship, with just two top-10s in 12 appearances. He was second to Jason Day in 2015 after winning the Masters and U.S. Open and missing a playoff by a shot at St. Andrews.
Spieth made quick work collecting the other three majors in just three years from 2015-17. (Getty Images)
In 2017, coming off his Open win at Royal Birkdale, Spieth was only on the fringe of contention at Quail Hollow, site of this week’s event. He finished in a tie for 28th. Since then, aside from the flirtation at Bethpage, his best is a tie for 12th in 2018 at Bellerive.
“It’s hard, I think, for Jordan,” McIlroy said last week at the Truist Championship. “You have to go back to the same tournament every year for Jordan, but not the same golf course. I think it’s a little bit of a different proposition for him rather than me having to go back to the same venue every year and trying to do that as well.
“As much as you try to get yourself in the right frame of mind to just try to win the golf tournament and then let everything else happen, it’s in there. Consciously or subconsciously, you feel that.
“I said this to people, the worst I felt on Sunday at Augusta was probably when I holed the birdie putt on 10 to go four ahead because I’m like, ‘Oh, I really can’t mess this up now.’ There’s that pressure.
“You know that you’re not just trying to win another tournament, you’re trying to become part of history, and that has a certain weight to it. I’ve certainly felt that at Augusta over the years. I’m sure Jordan has felt that a bit going into each PGA that he’s had a chance to do the same thing.”
It would be wild for Spieth to accomplish this immediately on the heels of McIlroy, who became the first to do so in 25 years following Tiger Woods in 2000. Only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus have also accomplished the feat.
But in truth, Spieth might just be happy to get in the mix. He’s been fighting to have his game match his hype and there have been sporadic signs of greatness mixed in with some ugliness, too.
He has three top-10s this year and showed some of what he’s got with a final-round 62 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. Ranked 46th in the world, he’d also love to improve that so as not to have to fret about next year’s U.S. Open — when he’ll no longer be exempt via his 2015 U.S. Open win. He is coming off a tie for 34th at the Truist Championship.
But Spieth, of course, gives the PGA another interesting story line. McIlroy will be trying for a second straight major. Scottie Scheffler is coming off an impressive win in Dallas at the Nelson. Bryson DeChambeau, who’s been in the hunt at four of the last five majors, is coming off a LIV Golf win in Korea that marked his first victory since the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. And then there’s defending champion Xander Shauffele, slowing rounding into shape after an early-season injury.
It should be an eventful week in Charlotte.