Rory can set up his Slam at Sawgrass
THERE are two remaining tilts at the career Grand Slam this year – Phil Mickelson at next month’s US Open and Jordan Spieth at the USPGA.
Who is the likeliest to join golf’s most exclusive club?
Mickelson was second at Shinnecock Hills, where this year’s championship will be held, when it last staged the US Open in 2004 but he will turn 48 on the morning of the third round. Only Julius Boros has won a Major at that age.
Spieth was not even born the last time Bellerive hosted the USPGA. While he can seemingly play anywhere, a stretched 7,600-yard, par-71 layout might be a better fit for the long hitters. He has actually missed two cuts in five attempts at the US PGA and it is a stab in the dark to predict a full set for him in St Louis.
The view of coach Butch Harmon is that Rory McIlroy will be the first of the three to complete the set at next year’s Masters.
“Rory would be the one I would pick,” said Harmon. “Rory is a better player than Jordan Spieth. He has more tools than Jordan. That was a momentum killer when he missed that three or fourfooter on the second hole of Augusta. It was his chance to really put the heat on Patrick Reed, but I really like Rory’s chances.
“I would love to see Mickelson win a US Open and complete the Grand Slam, he definitely deserves to be in that category. But Rory is the one I think will complete a Grand Slam first.”
The hangover from McIlroy’s final-round fade last month at Augusta, where Reed triumphed, continues judging by his erratic showing at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship, his first event since. He admitted after finishing in a share of 16th at Quail Hollow, one of his favourite courses, that it is “all a little bit of a struggle”.
That hardly bodes well for The Players Championship this week at Sawgrass, a course he could not stand when he first played it, complaining he felt like he was wearing handcuffs, and where he is yet to crack the top five in eight attempts.
Harmon’s view is it actually fits McIlroy better than he may think. “We know Rory is a great ball striker and especially a great driver, and Sawgrass is a great golf course which allows the players to go ahead and use their length to their advantage,” said Harmon, coach to world No1 Dustin Johnson.
The cream does tend to rise to the top there. Last year’s tournament was a quirky anomaly won by Si Woo Kim but historically it has produced a fine cast of winners – in the preceding decade Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Mickelson have all triumphed.
McIlroy has time to kill before the 2019 Masters. If he can chalk off the unofficial fifth Major at Sawgrass it may help to convince him that Augusta is not beyond him.
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He is a great ball striker