Jordan Spieth can no longer hide from career grand slam pursuit: 2025 PGA Championship is best chance in years

Spieth has not been at the height of his powers for years, but an improved all-around game and welcoming Quail Hollow Club set up nicely for history to be made

CHARLOTTE -- While it has always been a storyline as the golf calendar turns to the PGA Championship, for one reason or another, it has never been the storyline. Jordan Spieth's career grand slam aspirations have rarely been at the forefront of the conversation over the last five playings of this tournament. This despite Spieth sitting one Wanamaker Trophy away from the historic achievement since 2017.

Whether that's because there's three months leading into the Masters and so much energy was focused on Rory McIlroy's quest or because Spieth's form has largely fallen from the his peak, it is finally this season getting some of the attention it has long deserved. 

Perhaps spurned by McIlroy's success last month at the Masters, the career grand slam chase was front of mind when Spieth stepped to the podium at the onset of the week at Quail Hollow Club.

"There's been a number of years I've come to the PGA, and no one's really asked me about it," Spieth said. "There's been some years where it was a storyline, I guess. It's funny, I think, if Rory didn't [complete the career grand slam], then it wouldn't have been a storyline for me here necessarily. I mean, it's always a storyline if I work my way in, but at least ahead of time, I just feel like I've been asked about it more than other years, including years where I've come in -- I want to say '22 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. 

"So, I've kind of been surprised by the dynamic a little bit. 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. Obviously watching Rory win after giving it a try for a number of years was inspiring. You could tell it was a harder win than -- 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."

Spieth arrived in Charlotte in the midst of a season that has largely yielded positive results. Entering the 2025 campaign fresh off left wrist surgery, the three-time major champion's immediate goals were to play himself into contention before the Masters and find a string of consistency that has been missing from his game for quite some time. 

To his credit, Spieth has achieved exactly that. A collector of three top-10 finishes with a run of four straight top-20 results at one point -- the longest such streak he has put together since 2021 -- Spieth has relied on certain aspects of his game firing on all cylinders to rocket up leaderboards. Despite that, he enters the PGA Championship with 60-1 odds of victory, tied for 19th on the BetMGM board behind names like Tommy Fleetwood, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour despite 10 years as a professional.

If Spieth's game had surged to this degree in some prior years, he is right, he probably wouldn't be the first speaking with the press Tuesday of the PGA Championship. McIlroy has won three times this season. Bryson DeChambeau arrives off a near-miss at the Masters and as a winner in his last LIV Golf event. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shattered scoring records his last time out en route to victory. Justin Thomas is a winner again for the first time in three years, and he's returning to the site of his first major triumph.

There are other, perhaps more realistic storylines -- ones that may well materialize. 

But in the wake of McIlroy's Masters theatrics -- and the idea of the career grand slam fresh in our minds -- it was Spieth who commanded the interview area Tuesday, opening the affair as the spotlight shined on him with no area to hide this time around.

Ducking and dodging no more, Spieth faces both the quandaries and the conquest head on. He has an opportunity to become the seventh player in the history of the game to win all four major championships, and while the stars are perhaps as bright as ever, Spieth sees this year as a real chance.

The reasons why are tangible. Quail Hollow has been met with a deluge of early rain showers this week, which will allow those who hit the ball farther to be in an advantageous position. Spieth is above average in terms of driving distance, ball speed, strokes gained off the tee and just about every driving statistic. That has not always been the case.

"Nowadays, because of my driver becoming a weapon more than it used to be, that leaves me in a position where I feel a little more comfortable on these courses," Spieth said. "Having said that, you've got to go out and execute, but a familiar golf course is nice. I don't feel like I have to learn where all the pins are and where all the misses are and stuff. You can ask me the hole location on any green around this place right now, and I can tell you how I'm going to play the hole and where I'm going to try to hit it."

Spieth grew up on hilly golf courses with Bermuda grass throughout, which represents another checkmark on a list of positive feelings about Quail Hollow. Although the iron play has been up-and-down much like his disposition, when it is on, it is on, and his ceiling performances are as good as ever.

Both on and around the green, Spieth has stepped up from last season. The long par saves and ridiculous chip ins have returned to the highlight reel. 

All parts of his game have impressed across the first four months of the year, but they have yet to come together across all four rounds of a singular tournament. And as simple as it sounds, that will determine his week: Will Spieth marry it all together?

After all, as he said, "You can't fake it," at Quail Hollow. 

And for Spieth this week, you can't hide from it, either.