For a long time, Jordan Spieth’s quest for the career Grand Slam was no longer a story. His game had fallen off the face of the earth, his world ranking had collapsed, there was a five-year wilderness when he failed to win any kind of tournament, let alone the only Major he needed to complete the set.
And then, at the Masters in April, Rory McIlroy slayed the dragon. The US PGA was next. By an incalculable exchange rate, Spieth’s quest had currency again.
For McIlroy, the story had never died. It had become an instrument of torture. For 11 straight years he turned up at Augusta and faced the same questions. If not now, why? If not now, when? Spieth was spared that persecution. For him, the torment was different: people stopped thinking that the questions were valid. Everyone believed they knew the answer.
“It’s funny, I think, if Rory didn’t [complete the career Grand Slam], then it wouldn’t have been a storyline for me here necessarily,” said Spieth in his pre-tournament press conference. “I mean, it’s always a storyline if I work my way [into contention], but I just feel like I’ve been asked about it more [this year] than other years, including years [like] ’22 where I came in after winning and finishing second back-to-back.
“So, I’ve kind of been surprised by the dynamic a little bit. But it’s always ringed on the calendar for me. Obviously watching Rory win after giving it a try for a number of years was inspiring.”
Remember what he was like in his pomp? When he won the Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017, he had completed three parts of the career Grand Slam from just 19 appearances in Majors; only Jack Nicklaus had reached that point more quickly. “I have never been more confident about anybody winning the career Grand Slam as I am about Jordan Spieth,” Gary Player said.
Two years before that, in 2015, nobody could touch him. Two Major victories, three wins in regular tour events, five runner-up finishes, including at the US PGA Championship, he finished one shot outside a play-off at the Open too. However far-fetched as it seemed, a career Grand Slam in that season alone had been entirely plausible. Through a crowded field, he climbed nine spots to the summit of the world rankings.
Not all champions are lovable and relatable, but Spieth was. He was unaffected by success, respectful and grounded; he wore his talent lightly. In some respects, he was a superhero version of the Everyman golfer. Golf’s tormented triers could identify with the kinks in Spieth’s game. He didn’t hit the ball miles, he was liable to get into a pickle, and you could tell, as soon as he hit a bad shot, that he couldn’t quite understand why.
The superpower that quelled the destructiveness in his game was his putting. At his dominant peak in 2015, he was ranked first in putting average, first in one-putt percentage and first in putts-per-round. That part of his game, though, spiralled into a state of perpetual crisis. By 2020 he was outside the top 100 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting.
At the Majors, he was rarely in the hunt. In his eight appearances at the US PGA since the career Grand Slam became a possibility, he has put himself in a challenging position just once.
“A lot of times, I wasn’t in very good form,” he said. “If you’re not in very good form coming into a Major – I mean, I had a chance in 2019, and I was not in form. I was in the final group on Saturday with Brooks [Koepka], and I was like, I know what it’s like to have control of my game. I’ve played with Brooks with control of my game, and I see what he’s doing right now, and I don’t have it. Let’s see if I can fake it these next two days.”
He couldn’t. Spieth finished in a tie for third, six shots behind Koepka. He was still miles from bottoming out. In January 2019 he was ranked number 18 in the world; exactly two years later he was ranked 92. By the time he won the Valero Texas Open in 2022 he had gone 83 tournaments without a win.
Since then, the rehabilitation of his form has been slow and mostly steady. Injury also intervened. He hurt his wrist playing with his son in May 2023 but didn’t have surgery until 15 months later. “I wake up in the morning and I’m very aware I had surgery,” he said. “My left [wrist] feels twice the size of my right for about a half-hour every morning. They say that stops after about a year post-op.”
Career Grand Slam? This week? It was worth asking the question.
