Spieth has ground to make up in quest for Grand Slam

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: Jordan Spieth only needs to win the PGA Championship to complete the career Grand Slam.

It just feels like he has to win another US Open.

Quail Hollow presented a stern test in the opening round of the final Major, primarily because of the firm, fast and frightening greens for which the US Open is known. The result was the highest score to lead the first round of the PGA Championship in seven years, a four-under 67 by Kevin Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen.

Both made birdie on the 18th hole with lengthy putts that trickled – and trickled – into the cup.

“You need to be defensive on these greens – you have to,” Spieth said after his 72 left him five shots behind. “I was defensive and still had to make four- to five-footers for par on a couple of them.”

Spieth didn’t make a putt longer than five feet – that was for par on his second hole. He still hit the ball so well that he grabbed two birdies late in the round that enabled him to keep the damage to a minimum. If he didn’t make those birdies, he worried he might have shot himself out of the tournament.

“Given it’s the first round, I know I’m still in it, but I know that tomorrow’s round becomes that much more important,” Spieth said on Thursday. “If I’m five back at the start of the day, I’ve got to be less than five back come the weekend round to really feel like I can try and win.”

Spieth wasn’t alone in his first day struggles.

Rory McIlroy, a two-time winner at Quail Hollow and the betting favourite to end his three-year drought in the Majors here, was cruising right along until a three-hole stretch on the back nine when two poor chips and one tee shot into the water cost him three shots. He also shot 72. Rickie Fowler had six birdies, the kind of round that would put him in the lead – except for a triple bogey on the sixth hole.

For all the talk about this 7 600-yard course favouring the big hitters, the shortest club in the bag turned out to be just as valuable. “Any time you have a putt down grain, downhill … we just tap it and hope it stops by the hole,” Jon Rahm said after a 70.

Quail Hollow played to an average score of 74.7, making the PGA look like the toughest test of the year in the Majors. It typically features good scoring because it’s held in August when water has to be kept on the greens to keep them from dying. Just not this one. – ANA-AP