Spieth trying to buck the odds at PGA
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. >> Jordan Spieth needs to win the PGA Championship for the career Grand Slam. Masters champion Tiger Woods needs to win the next three majors to capture an unprecedented calendar Grand Slam.
Based on how their seasons have gone, the question now is who has the better chance.
Spieth smiled at the supposition, and then tried to play along. He first considered how physics major Bryson DeChambeau would approach it and figured that winning one major would be easier than winning three. And then he considered the Wisconsin man who placed a $100,000 wager on 100-1 odds of Woods winning all four majors this year, a bet that would return $10 million.
“I would have better odds than that, right?” Spieth said.
For someone mired in a slump — a word Spieth himself said Wednesday on the eve of the PGA Championship — the 25-year-old Texan didn’t appear overly concerned about the opportunity in front of him at Bethpage Black.
Spieth wouldn’t appear to be a candidate at the moment. He is winless since getting the third leg of the slam in the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale. And while he had chances on the back nine of two majors last year, he hasn’t come close to winning since then.
In the eight stroke-play events this year when he played the weekend, Spieth on average has finished 14.5 strokes behind the winner. He has yet to finish in the top 20, with his best result a tie for 21st at the Masters. He talks mostly about progress and consistency, both defined more by what he feels than what anyone else sees.
“I’ve shot some low rounds, but piecing together four has been difficult this season so far,” Spieth said. “I think it’s gotten more progressively consistent throughout the year, and out here you’re going to need that kind of consistency. You need your bad rounds to be held at about par to win this tournament, and you need your good rounds to go deep enough. If I can continue to make the amount of birdies I’ve been making and then just limit the mistakes a little bit, then I should be right in it.”
Woods, who won the second leg of the calendar slam at Bethpage Black in 2002 when it hosted the U.S. Open, is the betting favorite at 8-1. He is followed by Dustin Johnson and defending champion Brooks Koepka, two of golf’s most powerful players.
Spieth is listed at 50-1 on a big golf course that might feel even bigger considering the 2 inches of rain since Sunday that has left it long and soft.
“This is a completely different animal out here, Bethpage Black, and it’ll wear you out,” Xander Schauffele said.