Spieth seeks slam, Johnson seeks game

TULSA, OKLA. Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth are examples of how quickly the landscape can change.

One year ago, Johnson was the No. 1 player in the world, the runner-up in the previous two PGA Championships and among the favourites every time he played. Today, he is No. 12, his lowest ranking in seven years, and the questions are not about when he will add another major but when he will win again. He has gone 27 starts without a win.

“The thing for me has just been driving,” he said.

He thought back to the Masters, where his driver was behaving so badly he switched to a 3-wood. That’s not a bad option for most players, just not Johnson.

“I’ve never done that in my life — 3-wood is the last club in my bag that I’d want to hit,” he said. “I’ve always felt most comfortable with a driver.”

That would be a good club for him at Southern Hills after its acclaimed restoration project. At 7,556 yards for a par 70, the driver could go a long way.

Spieth was No. 28 a year ago, still trying to return to the form that made him a major force in golf at age 21.

Now the 28-year-old from Texas is No. 8 and coming off a particularly good stretch that followed an irritating missed cut at the Masters.

Spieth won in Hilton Head the following week and then finished one shot behind in Dallas last week.

The PGA Championship is all that’s keeping him from the career Grand Slam, which is one of the key talking points this week.

Spieth brought up the missing leg of the Grand Slam as the “elephant in the room.”

That could also be the Saudi-funded series Greg Norman is orchestrating, set to start in three weeks outside London with still no idea who will be playing and the PGA Tour denying releases required to play outside the country.

Spieth could only smile when after a series of questions about the career Grand Slam and his game and Southern Hills, he was asked about Mickelson and the Saudi league.

“Since everyone was lobbing me questions, you just went and threw two bombs,” he said with a wry smile. He didn’t looked bothered, and odds are he wasn’t.

“I’m excited to come here this week and just keep my head down, and none of those distractions weigh on me whatsoever,” he said.