SAN FRANCISCO – Jordan Spieth is a Wanamaker Trophy away from becoming just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam.
But he’d like to win any trophy these days.
The former world No. 1 and three-time major champion is still struggling to emerge from an abyss that began taking hold heading into the summer of 2018.
Until then, Spieth was elite, a favorite every week he put a peg in the ground, a winner of 11 PGA Tour titles before turning 26, including his E-ticket ride at Royal Birkdale in England to win the Claret Jug in 2017, his last victory.
Then his game started cooling when the heat began rising two summers ago. In 50 starts since finishing third in the 2018 Masters, Spieth has missed as many cuts – 8 – as he’s notched top-10 finishes. He’s fallen to No. 62 in the world. And momentum of any sort has been fleeting.
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At times he’s been bewildered standing over the ball with putter in hand, or an iron, or a driver or 3-wood. The winless stretch has often sent him to the practice ground in search of lost form alongside longtime coach Cameron McCormick and under another set of watchful eyes, those of his caddie, Michael Greller.
But faith has not deserted him. Like a weeble wobble, he keeps getting back up.
“I almost feel at times like the game is testing me a little bit right now because I feel really good about the progress I’ve been making, and then it seems like I’ll really have one (good round) brewing, and then I’ll get where I used to hit a tree and go in the fairway, it’ll hit a tree and go off the cart path out-of-bounds,” Spieth said Tuesday at TPC Harding Park, site of the 102nd PGA Championship.
“It just feels like I kind of here or there am taking some punches right now as I’m really progressing in the right direction,” he added. “You can get really upset and complain about it, which I’ve done and that’s not helpful, or you can look at it like hey, this is part of the game testing you, and the better you handle these situations, the faster you progress forward.
“I’ve done a really good job of that the last really three tournaments that I’ve played as opposed to any previously, and Michael would attest to that, and my attitude has been phenomenal. Been OK with knowing that the game will test you, and also believing in the process at hand.”
At hand this week is the first major in 13 months due to COVID-19. TPC Harding Park is lush and soft, the fairways thin, the cypress trees imposing, the temps cool and the mist heavy.
A strong test, in other words. A test, Spieth said, he’s confident he can pass. Even if he isn’t in his best form.
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“About as much as it’s been since I won The Open Championship, I guess,” he said when asked how much he thinks about joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to win the career grand slam. “It’s something that I really want. It’s probably the No. 1 goal in the game of golf for me right now.
“I’m working the right way, and even in a few years of feeling like I didn’t have my ‘A’ game any time I teed it up, I still had a chance to win three or four majors on a Sunday. Majors aren’t necessarily totally about form. They’re about experience and being able to grind it out, picking apart golf courses, so I feel like I probably have more confidence going into a major no matter where my game is at than any other golf tournament.”
Until that Sunday comes when he wins again – major or otherwise – he’ll keep working and believing.
“I’m in no hurry. I’ve got a lot of years in front of me and hopefully the best years in front of me,” he said. “I just stay the course. I keep my head down, focus on what our team is trying to accomplish and work each day really, really hard. I’ve worked my butt off over the last year mentally, physically and mechanically.
“Things will start to come together.”
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