Jordan Spieth believes his long-awaited shot at the career Grand Slam remains firmly on track after battling through brutal conditions to post an opening one-under-par 69 at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.
The three-time major winner arrived this week needing only the Wanamaker Trophy to complete golf’s most elusive modern achievement, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only men to win all four modern majors.
After a grinding opening round in cold, windy conditions, Spieth walked away encouraged rather than frustrated, convinced his game is in a strong enough place to contend deep into the weekend.
“I struck the ball well. I drove it really well. I was in a good position on a lot of holes,” Spieth said following his round.
“If I drive it like that, I’d expect to shoot what I did or better.”
Spieth’s lone frustration came late in the round, with a scrappy closing stretch preventing him from climbing further up the leaderboard. Even so, the American viewed the round as a positive beginning on a course he expects to only become more demanding as the championship unfolds.
“Under-par was a good score,” Spieth admitted.
“It was blowing really hard, and it was cold this morning. The course played very, very difficult.
“It was a good start. I’m going to need to improve on it, I think, each day.”
Aronimink’s combination of thick, rough, heavily contoured greens and punishing hole locations has quickly become a major talking point among players this week, with Spieth describing the setup as “diabolical” once competitors moved beyond the relatively gentle opening hole.
“The pins are the defence too of the course,” Spieth explained.
“Even when you’re hitting it in the fairway, it’s very difficult to get it on the right tier and have a putt that doesn’t do a couple things.”
While some players praised the creativity of the hole locations, Spieth acknowledged there was little margin for error if players found themselves even slightly out of position.
“If you were out of position, you really had a tough two-putt because you could only hit it on the centre of the green,” he said.
“We kind of knew that was going to be the case coming in, and they definitely did that.”
Spieth’s patience and course management were particularly important throughout the opening round, with the Texan adopting a conservative approach when birdie opportunities were not available.
“They give you some wedges, and you’ve got to take advantage in the few times you get good chances,” Spieth said.
“Other than that, be playing to the middle of the greens and just try to pepper greens in regulation.”
Spieth’s outlook remains highly optimistic, especially given that he felt his score could easily have been lower.
“It’s one of those rounds where I feel like I played better than I scored,” Spieth said.
“That’s frustrating because you want to get the most out of your round. It’s also a good thing, which means things are in a good spot.”
The three-time major winner believes only minor adjustments are needed heading into Friday.
“I’ll go try to tighten a couple things up that got off at the end of the day and just go out there tomorrow and try to make a few more putts.”
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