career Grand – Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler each chase the final major pieces as the PGA Championship begins, with Scheffler closer to history.
A once-in-a-generation career milestone is starting to feel almost within reach at the PGA Championship, where Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler are both chasing the last door to the career Grand Slam.
The keyphrase matters here because the tournament. beginning Thursday at Aronimink. marks Spieth’s 10th opportunity to win golf’s most elusive prize.. For Scheffler. the pursuit appears even nearer. though his chance to complete the four-major sweep is still tied to next month’s U.S.. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
The story has a long arc that began far from Sunday television cameras.. A video resurfaced a couple of years ago traced the two players back to their teenage years. when Scheffler was a two-time Masters champion already established at No.. 1 in the world, while Spieth was sliding out of the top 50 and moving toward surgery on his left wrist.
In the clip from the Byron Nelson Junior Championship in 2009, Scheffler was 13 and Spieth about to turn 16. Scheffler was then just beginning to compete at a high level, while Spieth was the standout attraction, shooting 62 to win by 11 shots in a Texas summer.
Seventeen years later, the rivalry has flipped in the rankings and in the momentum. Scheffler passed Spieth for good at the end of 2021, and the gap is now described as far more substantial than it used to be.
Spieth’s last worldwide win came four years ago at the RBC Heritage.. Since then. Scheffler has won 19 times. including an Olympic gold medal in Paris and two victories at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.. Their differing trajectories have also extended to recognition for consistency: Scheffler has been PGA Tour player of the year for the last four seasons. an achievement matched only by Tiger Woods for consecutive seasons.
Even with that distance, Spieth said jealousy isn’t part of his relationship with Scheffler’s rise.. Instead. he described wanting to study what Scheffler does well and turning that curiosity into questions—something he said he didn’t do for a long time.. Spieth suggested that at his best. he believes he can execute shots across the course. even if he has not reached the level of Scheffler’s iron play.
There is also familiarity that goes beyond trophies.. The players compete regularly, but often not on a standard golf course setup with ropes, scoreboards, or world-ranking points.. Scheffler. Spieth. and Si Woo Kim have been part of a recurring game that can feature former NHL player Brenden Morrow and NFL quarterback Tony Romo. along with retired tour pros and club champions.
Those off-course matches often include a five-man “Wolf” game and head-to-head play among the pros.. The games are organized around $100 a hole with no presses. and the report noted that Scheffler appears to have an edge in those money matches as well.. Kim, for his part, said Scheffler has a nickname that reflects the advantage he tends to hold in those contests.
The competitive banter doesn’t stay quiet either.. When asked who is better at provoking opponents. Scheffler indicated that the answer belonged to the one who was being asked. adding that he believes he is the one keeping Spieth awake.. For Spieth, the teasing carries into his own motivation heading into the PGA Championship.
Looking at the major-championship path, Spieth said his next chance to move toward the career Grand Slam comes at Aronimink. He would like to be the first to reach the seventh player in history to win all four majors, even as he acknowledged recent form seems to favor Scheffler.
Spieth specifically pointed to the U.S.. Open as a course that could suit Scheffler’s game well. and he suggested Scheffler might get there “very soon.” He also framed the emotion of the chase in personal terms: if Scheffler completes it first. the rivalry’s edge would be felt. because the needle-laced joking they exchange in their games is rooted in who holds the upper hand.
For Spieth, though, the gap between expectation and reality isn’t as wide as it may look in results.. He said he doesn’t feel as far off as his trajectory might suggest. even after returning from wrist surgery. when he had good finishes but without true opportunities to win.. He described his year’s work in the present as marked by top-12 finishes that often came with late setbacks or a few shots that led to trouble rather than fairways.
In his view, the bigger issue is consistency over the full length of a tournament rather than a lack of effort or intention. Spieth said that he sometimes finds momentum in the larger picture but then loses it round by round, meaning the gains don’t carry into the final stretches.
The season’s pattern. as he described it. included specific closing breakdowns: double bogeys that ended rounds at The Players Championship. and a run of holes near the end of other tournaments where the scoring slipped.. He also referenced an instance at the RBC Heritage when a tee shot struck a spectator’s shoulder and bounced toward a cart path. then rolled just out of bounds by a small distance—an example of how small moments can still swing outcomes.
He said those kinds of errors happen often in golf and. in his case. have repeatedly kept him from teeing off Sunday with the chance he wanted.. His frustration is tied to the idea that bad swings have arrived at the wrong times and have prevented him from being in contention when the tournament tightens.
Spieth’s relationship with the PGA Championship also includes history that complicates the pressure.. He was runner-up in 2015 at Whistling Straits. a year when he was three shots away from a chance to win all four majors.. Since winning the 2017 British Open. however. he has had limited success in the only major missing from his career Grand Slam.
His best result in that category. according to the report. was a top 10 in 2019 at Bethpage Black. when he entered the final round nine shots behind Brooks Koepka.. Even so. the report emphasized how hard all majors are; the additional challenge is that a career slam has its own weight because it’s not just about adding another title but about creating history.
Rory McIlroy’s experience is often used as a parallel. He went through a long stretch waiting for the Masters for 11 years before finally winning it, a reminder that the final missing piece can be the hardest even for elite players.
For Spieth, there is another factor in how the pursuit feels: the spotlight. He is not likely to face the same level of constant attention that McIlroy carried at Augusta, and Scheffler is expected to draw a greater share of focus at Shinnecock Hills next month.
In this context, Spieth described patience as his biggest challenge.. He compared it to a blackjack run when the next good hand is around the corner but the timing is difficult. saying he has to keep playing the right way until the sequence changes.. For him. the season has felt like a “weird run of cards. ” but he believes the turnaround—like the right corner at the table—still lies ahead.
And as the PGA Championship tees off at Aronimink, both players stand one major away from completing a story that started with a teenage rivalry in Texas and has now matured into a near-moment of history.
Jordan Spieth Scottie Scheffler PGA Championship career Grand Slam U.S. Open Aronimink