Jordan Spieth has made a fine start to the PGA Championship at Aronimink, where he is chasing the career Grand Slam.
Spieth has triumphed at the other three majors, but those victories at The Masters, the US Open and The Open Championship all arrived between 2015 and 2017.
The American now has another chance of ending his drought this week in Pennsylvania, where he carded a one-under 69 on day one.
Spieth has since reacted to his opening round of the PGA Championship , having ended Friday just two shots off the lead.
Analyzing his first round performance at Aronimink , the three-time major winner commented: “I struck the ball well.
“I drove it really well. I was in a good position on a lot of holes. If I drive it like that, I’d expect to shoot what I did or better.
“Just didn’t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under-par was a good score. It was blowing really hard, and it was cold this morning.
“The course played very, very difficult. It was a good start. I’m going to need to improve on it, I think, each day.”
And tasked with discussing the level of challenge with the rough around the fairways or around the greens, he said: “Sometimes you see the ball around the greens so you think it’s not so bad, but those are the worst ones.
“The pins are the defense too of the course. Even when you’re hitting it in the fairway, it’s very difficult to get it on the right tier and have a putt that doesn’t do a couple things. All in all, it’s a challenge.
“They give you some wedges, and you’ve got to take advantage in the few times you get good chances. Other than that, be playing to the middle of the greens and just try to pepper greens in regulation.”
It was then put to Spieth that some players said the pins were “awesome”, to which he responded: “Yeah, they were definitely… you could see how this course could play very fun for members if they want to make the pins in bowls. Seems like for us they want to put them right in the corners and stuff.
“Yeah, if you got a good chance, it was fun to try to take some on. If you were out of position, you really had a tough two-putt because you could only hit it on the center of the green.
“We kind of knew that was going to be the case coming in, and they definitely did that. They give you kind of an easier start on the 1st hole, on No. 1, and from there it got kind of diabolical.”
Photo by Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Spieth can certainly be proud of his early efforts at Aronimink, where many of his fellow superstars failed to perform.
Six-time major winner Rory McIlroy carded a four-over 74, while LIV Golf icon Bryson DeChambeau ended his nightmare day on six-over.
Sharing his outlook for the rest of the week and how positive he feels in Pennsylvania, Spieth explained: “Yeah, very.
“It’s one of those rounds where I feel like I played better than I scored, which is frustrating because you want to get the most out of your round. It’s also a good thing, which means things are in a good spot.
“I’ll go try to tighten a couple things up that got off at the end of the day and just go out there tomorrow and try to make a few more putts.”
Spieth, who missed the cut at last year’s tournament, posted four birdies, 11 pars and three bogeys in his somewhat bittersweet round.
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