Career Grand Slam? Longhorns Spieth Out to Make Golf History at PGA Championship
Is this the year former Longhorns golfer Jordan Spieth joins the pantheon of players with a career grand slam?
Spieth, of course, is just one step away. He has been for a while now, since he won the 2017 Open Championship to give him a third unique major. All that was left after that week in the British Isles was the PGA Championship. He had been second in 2015. He all the momentum going into that event, but he finished in a tie for 28th at Quail Hollow Golf Course.
Spieth hasn’t won a major since that 2017 Open. But, since February, Spieth his built momentum to take another stab at becoming the sixth player in golf history to win the career grand slam as the PGA Championship begins this week.
The Dallas, Texas, native and former Texas golfer is chasing some of the greatest players in the history of the game — not that the company he’s keeping now is shabby, mind you. Spieth is one of 12 players that have won three of the four professional majors. That list includes Lee Trevino, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Tommy Armour, Raymond Floyd, Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and Jim Barnes.
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That’s an incredible constellation of players. The list Spieth hopes to join?
Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, and Ben Hogan.
There is a little difference between three and four, even in this case.
To join them, Spieth must capitalize on the upsurge in his play since the start of this year, specifically beginning in early February at the Waste Management Open in Phoenix.
Spieth shot a career-low 61 in the third round of the Phoenix Open. Even though Spieth couldn’t finish the job the following day, it was the spark for three top-four finishes (Phoenix, Pebble Beach, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational) in his next five stroke-play events, along with a Top 15 finish at the Genesis Invitational.
Spieth then reached the Round of 16 in the WGC-Dell Match Play event in Austin, Texas, and followed that with his first win in four years, claiming the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
After his tie for third at The Masters, Spieth was supposed to play in the Valspar Invitational. But he had to pass on that tournament after he tested positive for COVID-19. So, the Byron Nelson was his only tune-up before the PGA Championship.
Spieth ended up finishing tied for ninth at the Nelson, firing a first-round 63 to tie for the lead and then giving chase all weekend and finishing at 18-under par.
Is Spieth ready to take the final step? We’ll find out this week.
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Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Longhorns in the Pros for Longhorn Country on FanNation.com and SINow. He also writes for CowboyMaven and DallasBasketball.com, covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com and is the Editor of the College Football America Yearbook. Have a story idea about a former Longhorn now in the professional ranks? Contact Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.