Jordan Spieth hasn’t won a Major since 2017 and hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2022, and there are major questions over whether he is capable of ending his eight-year wait for one of golf’s top honours
Jordan Spieth will need to harness his “explosive” game to win the US PGA Championship and become the seventh player to complete a career grand slam. That is the view of double US Open champion Curtis Strange, who will be commentating for ESPN at Quail Hollow as Spieth attempts to follow Masters champion Rory McIlroy in joining golf’s most exclusive club.
Spieth’s last major title came in 2017 and he has not won on the PGA Tour since 2022, but he carded a closing 62 in the recent CJ Byron Nelson to finish fourth, albeit 12 shots behind runaway winner and world number one Scottie Scheffler.
Asked if Spieth was capable of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy next week, Strange said: “Well, it’s a good question. Only he knows. I think he’s working very hard at it.
“Let’s not forget he’s coming off a wrist injury, surgery. That takes time. When he plays well like he did last week, consistently well, shoots a really good last round, that speaks volumes.”
Spieth won his maiden major title in the 2015 Masters and added the US Open nine weeks later at Chambers Bay before missing out on a play-off for the Open at St Andrews by a single shot. He then rounded off a remarkable season in the majors by finishing runner-up to Jason Day in the US PGA at Whistling Straits, the tournament only moving from August to its current date in May in 2019.
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“Let’s not forget when he won all the majors and all the tournaments at such a young age, they came so quickly,” Strange added. “Obviously there’s some kind of letdown after something like that and can you sustain that over the next eight or 10 years? He didn’t. One (reason) was because of some injuries.
“But his ball-striking – just look at the stats – is not near Scottie Scheffler’s. What does he have to do? He has to chip and putt like we know Jordan can and sometimes that doesn’t happen every single day. Jordan is going to be an explosive player, but maybe not as consistent as Scottie.
“I’ve got to tell you, when he misses a green I’m on the edge of my seat because he is as good as there’s ever been. He’s in the class of (Phil) Mickelson, (Tom) Watson, Seve (Ballesteros), that type of short-game player. So it’s always fun to watch.”
Spieth’s close friend Justin Thomas won the US PGA when it was last staged at Quail Hollow in 2017 and Strange believes a recent victory in the RBC Heritage means Thomas “truly believes” he can lift the title for the third time.
However, Strange added: “When you picture this gang of young players, Jordan and Justin and the rest of them, when they were all single golf was number one on their mind, in their life. They lived it, they drank it, they slept it.
“They’re all married now with children. Life doesn’t get in the way, but it changes. And it changes for the better. But sometimes your focus is not the same as it used to be. Golf sometimes takes a backseat and that’s okay.”