Jordan reckons his Grand Slam will have to wait a year
JORDAN SPIETH has conceded his bid to become the youngest winner of the career Grand Slam was effectively over after his disappointing second round in the weather- affected US PGA Championship.
Open champion Spieth could add only a 73 to his opening 72 at Quail Hollow to finish three-over-par, 11 shots off the halfway lead shared by Kevin Kisner and Hideki Matsuyama.
No player has ever won the US PGA after trailing by more than nine strokes after 36 holes, which was also bad news for pretournament favourite Rory McIlroy, who was 10 adrift following a second successive 72.
“I kind of accept the fact that I’m essentially out of this tournament,” Spieth said. “However, I’m sure going to give it a try. “After we came out of Friday’s rain delay, I’m a little upset at the bailing out I did on a couple of shots. The tee shot on 14, tee shot on 15 and 18. There was just no reason to bail out on those at this point in the position I was in.
“It was more gettable after the rain delay than it was before, no doubt about it. I played even par after the delay and that’s not very good, in my opinion, on those holes that we had left.”
Rory McIlroy had begun his second round with a moment of magic, but even that and a late rally saw him end it needing to make history to win.
McIlroy was in danger of missing the halfway cut for the fourth time in his last seven Major appearances after dropping four shots in the space of five holes at Quail Hollow.
And although he birdied the next two and came agonisingly close to making it a hattrick on the ninth, his final hole of the day, the 28-year-old’s second successive 72 left him two-over-par and 10 shots back.
McIlroy, whose only major victory when trailing after 36 holes came when he was two behind in the 2012 US PGA, admitted his
situation could easily have been a lot worse, especially after he carved his second shot on the 591-yard 10th over the crowd and saw it bound down a cart path which runs along the side of the 11th.
The ball eventually came to rest just off the path and left the world No. 4 with a seemingly impossible third shot through an avenue of trees, but he produced a brilliant low pitch which bounced off the path, through a bunker and ran across the green before stopping on the fringe.
“If you’re ever down there, it’s 110 yards,” McIlroy joked with reporters after chipping to two feet and tapping in for par.
Speaking after his round, he added: “I dropped it in a pretty bad lie, so I couldn’t carry it over the cart path. So I hit a six iron and just said: ‘OK, I’ll bounce it up the cart path and see where this goes’.
“Luckily it got out of the bunker and on to the other side. That could have been a six or
a seven quite easily, so to get away with a five, I actually felt pretty good about myself going to the next tee.”
A delay of one hour 43 minutes caused by the threat of lightning saw players scrambling to complete their rounds before darkness, with world No. 1 Dustin Johnson running to the 18th to tee off and thus ensure his whole group could finish.
That allowed 2015 champion Jason Day to complete a 66 and finish two shots behind Kisner and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner Matsuyama, whose 64 established a new course record, only to have that matched minutes later by Italy’s Francesco Molinari.
“That’s the biggest or most clutch thing I’ve ever seen anyone do for me,” Day said of Johnson’s gesture.
“I had to give him a hug for it. He was happy as well, obviously to be able to finish and not have to wake up at 5.30.”