Late rally keeps Slam hopes alive
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jordan Spieth felt he was on the verge of shooting himself out of the PGA Championship. Instead of looking at his scorecard, he considered what he had left to play at Quail Hollow.
Playing the front nine last, he had gunned his putt from just short of the fifth green about 10 feet by the hole and missed that one for bogey. He did the same thing on the par-3 sixth hole, and suddenly he was 3-over for the round. At that point, he looked a lot closer to a weekend off than the final leg of the career Grand Slam.
Waiting in the fairway on the par-5 seventh gave him time to think.
“I thought to myself: ‘They are not giving birdies at all. You have to pull off some solid shots to make birdies on those holes,’ ” Spieth said.
When the green cleared, he ripped a hybrid from 246 yards over the water and onto the green, where it settled 30 feet away on the fringe to set up a two-putt birdie. He hit another good drive on the short par-4 eighth and hit a wedge that skipped and stopped a foot from the cup for another birdie.
A solid par on his last hole allowed Spieth to escape with a 1-over-par 72.
It was a reasonable start to his quest for the career Grand Slam because it could have been worse.
“I had a couple of easy holes left,” Spieth said. “If I were to finish par-parpar, I would have thrown myself out of the tournament . ... If I was focused on my score, it might have been a different story. I was focused on what we had left.”
His caddie, Michael Greller, told him to have three good birdie chances and see where that left him.
“I had three looks, and almost got back all the way to even,” Spieth said.
It was still five shots behind leaders Thorbjorn Olesen and Kevin Kisner.
Swimmer Michael Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist who knows a thing or two about performing at his best under crushing pressure, spent Thursday following Spieth around Quail Hollow.
Spieth was thrilled to have Phelps inside the ropes with him.
“He’s become a good friend and even a mentor,” Spieth said. “That’s pretty awesome to have a mentor like that.”
Phelps and his wife, Nicole Johnson, followed Spieth, U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and Masters champion Sergio Garcia for most of the day.
It’s not the first time Phelps has shadowed Spieth around the course.
Phelps, an avid golfer, struck up a friendship with Spieth last year in Phoenix through their mutual sponsor, Under Armour.