Only six men in golf history have completed the career Grand Slam. Rory McIlroy was the most recent player to join that exclusive group after winning the 2025 Masters.
Jordan Spieth will have a chance to become the seventh this week at Aronimink, where a victory in the PGA Championship would complete one of golf’s rarest achievements.
The storyline is obvious, especially for those who have followed Spieth’s career closely. But the 32-year-old says he is not letting the weight of history affect his preparation.
“As the career Grand Slam, this tournament’s always highlighted,” Spieth said on Monday. “If I could win one more tournament in my life, it would obviously be this one for that reason. But the easiest way to do that is to not try to, in a weird way, you know. Just go out and get ready for the first hole, get a good game plan in and attack it the way it needs to be attacked.”
Spieth won three legs of the Grand Slam early in his career, claiming the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 before adding the Open Championship in 2017. He came closest to winning the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in 2015, finishing solo second, three shots behind Jason Day.
Since then, the PGA Championship has proved difficult for the 13-time PGA Tour winner. His only top-10 finish in the event since Whistling Straits came in 2019, when he tied for third at Bethpage Black.
Still, Spieth believes his game is trending in the right direction.
“My game has been getting better and better,” he said. “It’s plenty good to have a chance to win. It’s about working my way into contention. I was able to do that a couple weeks ago [T18 at the Cadillac Championship].”
Spieth has recorded six top-25 finishes this season but is still looking for his first victory since the 2022 RBC Heritage. He said the challenge has been bringing every part of his game together in the same week.
“It’s a whack-a-mole situation because I have had weeks where I’m leading in putting, weeks where I’ve leading in driving, weeks where I am leading in ball-striking, and then I just haven’t been able to kind of put them all together, at least have — haven’t had — you know, been able to lean on something on an off-day and not have, you know, something be a negative strokes that throws me out of a chance on any of those categories, right,” he said.
Rather than dwell on the inconsistency, Spieth is choosing to see the upside.
“The good news is within this season I’ve been able to lead in each [category], so I should be confident that I have at least each part of the game as a weapon,” he said.
“It’s just focusing on the right things, putting it together, limiting the mistakes, and then when something feels a little bit off, managing to be able to shoot a couple under par versus a couple over par.”
A win this week would place Spieth in one of golf’s most exclusive clubs.
“It would be amazing, right, because it’s just a very, very short list in history,” he said. “But obviously with having won the other three, that’s the one that everyone focuses on,” Spieth added. “But when I’m out here, and certainly when I get out on the golf course, I’ve been in contention a couple of times in this tournament. It didn’t feel any different than any other majors, so I wouldn’t expect to if I get there this week.”
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