From faking it to making it? Jordan Spieth is just pleased that Grand Slam chat is back on the table

For years, Jordan Spieth’s form was so bad that the Grand Slam wasn’t even brought up in PGA Championship interviews. But, as he starts to rediscover bits of his game that made him a three-time major champion, the Texan is happy to have his storyline back…

Jordan Spieth will tee up at this week’s PGA Championship looking to complete the Grand Slam at the ninth time of asking.

Not that he counts some of those, given the depths to which his game plummeted during a particularly turbulent spell around the turn of the decade.

Regardless, Spieth is four rounds away from not only becoming the seventh member of golf’s most exclusive club, but doing it just five weeks after Rory McIlroy finally slipped into the Green Jacket.

Spieth headed over to McIlroy on the range ahead of last week’s Truist Championship to congratulate the Northern Irishman on his achievement. “It’s your turn next week,” McIlroy beamed. “Yeah, at Rory McIlroy Country Club,” Spieth quipped.

And while McIlroy’s record around Quail Hollow is exemplary, winning back-to-back majors – especially after a victory as seismic as we saw at Augusta – is a huge ask. Spieth knows that as well as anyone.

“Watching Rory win after giving it a try for a number of years was inspiring,” Spieth explained in his press conference ahead of the 107th PGA Championship.

“You could tell it was a harder win. Most of the time he makes it look a lot easier, so that obviously was on the forefront of his mind.

“Something like that has not been done by many people, and there’s a reason why. But I’d love to throw my hat in the ring and give it a chance come the weekend this week.”

It’s also made it more of a “storyline”, as Spieth calls it, this week.

“There’s been a number of years I’ve come to the PGA and no one’s really asked me about it,” he explained.

“It’s funny, I think, if Rory didn’t, then it wouldn’t have been a story line for me here necessarily. I mean, it’s always a storyline if I work my way in, but I feel like I’ve been asked about it more than other years, including years [like] ’22 where I came in after winning and finishing second back-to-back, which I would have thought would be a time where that would have been one.

Jordan Spieth’s PGA Championship record

2013: Missed Cut
2014: Missed Cut
2015: 2nd
2016: Tied-13th
2017: Tied-28th
2018: Tied-12th
2019: Tied-3rd
2020: Tied-71st
2021: Tied-30th
2022: Tied-34th
2023: Tied-29th
2024: Tied-43rd

And while Spieth confirmed he’s “not insulted” when he isn’t asked about the Grand Slam, he does admit he “surprised by the dynamic”.

“Typically there are a lot of storylines. For so many years watching Phil [Mickelson] at the US Open, there was some, then it wasn’t some, and then he wins the PGA [in 2021] and all of a sudden it becomes a storyline in the US Open. It just bounces back and forth within the noise, I guess.

“But it’s always circled on the calendar. For me, if I could only win one tournament for the rest of my life, I’d pick this one for that reason.”

Having completed the third leg of his Slam in scintillating fashion at Royal Birkdale in 2017, Spieth’s game – most notably, his ever-reliable putting – deserted him. By 2020, the Texan had hit rock bottom.

But there were glimmers of hope. Spieth was paired with Brooks Koepka in the final group during the third round of the 2019 PGA Championship.

And while he went on to finish in a tie for 3rd, Spieth admitted he “wasn’t in very good form”.

He continued: “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 mine. Let’s see if I can fake it these next two days.’ I feel a lot better now than I did in that.”

And so he should. Even though his winless streak tipped over the three-year mark last month, we’ve seen flashes of the Spieth of old in recent weeks – including two top-five finishes, something he didn’t achieve in the entirety of last season.

There’s a reason people are tipping two-time major champions like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele to get the Grand Slam before Spieth.

But Spieth’s game is somewhere near where he wants it to be. And he won’t need to “fake” anything to get the job done in North Carolina.