Jordan Spieth gets set for his 13th PGA Championship this week at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. He will try for the ninth time to complete his career grand slam in this Championship, the last missing piece in what would be a stellar and rare accomplishment. Just last month, Rory McIlroy became only the sixth player to capture that title, becoming the first to do so in 25 years since Tiger Woods in 2000. Spieth will get his chance this week on a course that at least he has some familiarity with, thanks to the regular PGA Tour stop held here.
The gravity of what’s at stake this week is not lost on the 31-year-old Texan.
Inspired by Rory. Focused on history.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/aqfLm35jKu
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 13, 2025
“For me, if I could only win one tournament for the rest of my life, I'd pick this one for that reason,” Spieth said in his Tuesday presser of the PGA Championship, completing the slam.
“Obviously, watching Rory win after giving it a try for a number of years was inspiring.”
Spieth is also aware that McIlroy’s recent accomplishment brings what Spieth is trying to do this week to light even more.
“It's funny, I think, if Rory didn’t (win the Masters), then it wouldn't have been a storyline for me here necessarily. I mean, it's always a storyline if I work my way in, but at least ahead of time,” Spieth said. “I just feel like I've been asked about it more than other years, including years where I've come in -- I want to say '22 (Southern Hills), I came in after winning and finishing second back-to-back, which I would have thought would be a time where that would have been one. So I've kind of been surprised by the dynamic a little.”
Even on that Sunday at Southern Hills, after he had finished tied for 34th place, only three reporters chatted with Spieth before he left the property. It just goes to show in golf how quickly our attention shifts to who’s hot in the moment, as Justin Thomas was on the course and on his way to a playoff win for his second PGA Championship.
Spieth appreciates the familiarity he has with Quail Hollow, and that’s not often the case for PGA Championship venues he travels to.
“I don't feel like I have to learn where all the pins are and where all the misses are and stuff. You can ask me the hole location on any green around this place right now, and I can tell you how I'm going to play the hole and where I'm going to try to hit it,” Spieth said.
This is a course at Quail Hollow that Spieth likes because you have to hit your targets off the tee boxes.
“There's a number of great golf courses that we play, and this is one of them. You'll get guys shooting 5-, 6-, 7-under, and you'll get guys shooting 5-, 6-, 7-over,” Spieth said.
"There's no faking it. The rough is up a little more than what we normally see when we come here during the season. A little more premium on the fairways. Trying to find greens in regulation will be my goal."
Physically speaking, Spieth’s wrist seems to be healing well from surgery last August, but even so, does he feel much lingering effects?
“Less and less as the year has gone on, which is great. It's hard to tell if it was preventing anything that I could or couldn't do, so I'm not going to say that it's everything. But just the ease of not worrying about it dislocating, I guess, or subluxing, I think, is the term for this specific, is really nice,” Spieth said.
With a wrist seemingly giving him less trouble, it’ll be fun to see how far Spieth can take his hopes of the grand slam this week.
