MAN OF THE MOMENT
Spieth, 24, takes shot at career Grand Slam
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jordan Spieth has displayed a remarkable sense of the moment throughout his professional golf career.
He earned his PGA Tour card by holing a bunker shot on the 18th hole and winning a playoff. In the final round before the Presidents Cup selections, he shot a 62 while playing with Phil Mickelson, who told U.S. captain Fred Couples, “Dude, you’ve got to pick this guy.” And right when it looked as though Spieth might throw away another major opportunity, he nearly made an ace and followed that with an eagle on his way to winning the British Open last month at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
That was his third major championship, and it brought Spieth, newly 24, to the grandest moment of all.
No one has ever won the career Grand Slam at a younger age. No one has ever completed it at the PGA Championship.
Spieth has never appeared more relaxed.
“There will be pressure,” he said. “This is a major championship. This is one of the four pivotal weeks of the year that we focus on. So there will certainly be pressure. I’m simply stating there won’t be added expectations or pressure.
“It’s not a burning desire to have to be the youngest to do something, and that would be the only reason there would be added expectations.”
Spieth doesn’t see his greatest challenge as the history at stake when the tournament starts today at Quail Hollow Club. He considers the real obstacles the course — which he has played only one time — and the strongest field in golf, which features a few major champions desperate to make sure the year doesn’t
end without them adding another title.
Rory McIlroy comes to mind. So do Dustin Johnson and Jason Day.
McIlroy is a slight favorite, mainly because he has won here twice — one year with a 62, the other with a 61 — and has finished out of the top 10 just one time in his seven appearances.
“If you’re matched up on Sunday … you obviously want to be able to play against somebody like Rory who has four major championships and is one of the top couple most accomplished players in this field,” Spieth said. “But he is one to fear in that position because of what he’s capable of doing and how he’s going to do it.”
Fear is not a word Spieth uses often. For him, this week is more about being free from the burden of trying to win a major this year. He said he hasn’t felt this way since the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in 2015, the year he won the Masters for his first major title.
“Almost like I’ve accomplished something so great this year that anything else that happens, I can accept,” he said. “That takes that pressure, that expectation away.”
He will be playing the opening two rounds with the year’s other major champions — Sergio Garcia (Masters) and Brooks Koepka (U.S. Open), who understand Spieth’s approach. But while they may have nothing to lose, they still have plenty to gain.
“You do think whatever happens, I’ve already won the Masters and it’s amazing,” Garcia said. “But at the same time, it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to go out there and try as hard you can, because that’s what we do. That’s the only way we know how to play.”
Woods takes plea deal
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods has agreed to plead guilty to reckless driving and will enter a diversion program that will allow him to have his record wiped clean if he completes the program, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Woods, 41, was charged with DUI in May after he was found asleep in his Mercedes-Benz, apparently under the influence of a prescription painkiller and sleeping medication. No alcohol was found in his system.
Woods did not appear at the Palm Beach County courthouse for his arraignment. Prosecutor Adrienne Ellis said the golf superstar agreed to plead guilty at an Oct. 25 hearing and enter the county’s program for firsttime DUI offenders.
“He is not being treated any different than anyone else,” Ellis said.
Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, entered a not guilty plea to the DUI charge on Woods’ behalf and declined comment as he left the courthouse. Under the plea deal, prosecutors would drop the DUI charge, which is a more severe charge than reckless driving. If he completes the program, he can ask a judge to expunge the reckless driving conviction.
In the diversion program, Woods will spend a year on probation, pay a $250 fine and court costs, attend DUI school and perform 50 hours of community service. He also would have to attend a workshop where victims of impaired drivers detail how their lives were damaged, as well as face other conditions.
If convicted of DUI, Woods would have faced a fine of between $500 and $1,000, the impounding of his car for 10 days and other conditions. He also could have been jailed for up to six months — although that was unlikely — received probation and lost his driver’s license for six months to a year.
Woods announced last month he had completed treatment at an out-of-state clinic to deal with his use of prescription medications.