Jordan Spieth has always enthralled golf fans with his wild, rollercoaster play on the course. It helps that his playing style resulted in three major wins early in his career.
Spieth has also displayed an idiosyncratic way with words in his time in the spotlight, from passionate discussions with his caddie Michael Greller on the course to detailed explanations of his unique swing thoughts in interviews and press conferences.
On Tuesday in his 2026 PGA Championship presser at Aronimink, Spieth even got to talking about his hobby of smoking meats… and how it’s just like working on his golf game.
But, more interestingly, Spieth commented at length on one of the biggest stories of the week: his quest to complete the career Grand Slam at the PGA.
If he were to hoist the Wanamaker trophy on Sunday for the first time, he would become just the seventh player in history to win all four of golf’s major championships. And while Spieth admitted that would be “amazing,” he also shared an unusual strategy to make it happen that he himself described as “weird.”
Spieth won the 2015 Masters, the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2017 Open Championship. At the 2017 PGA Championship, he had a chance to become the youngest player in history to complete the career Grand Slam.
But nine long years have passed since then, and Spieth is still waiting for his first PGA Championship victory to arrive. In the meantime, Rory McIlroy ended his own lengthy majorless drought at the 2025 Masters to become the sixth Grand Slam winner in history.
Though he hasn’t won any tournament since 2022, Spieth is playing some of his best golf in recent years heading into this week’s PGA. He has four finishes of T12 or better this season, including a T12 at the Masters.
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In his press conference on Tuesday at Aronimink, Spieth explained that due to his Grand Slam quest, the PGA Championship is “always highlighted,” but he also revealed a counterintuitive strategy for the week: to win, he has to try not to win.
“So as far as the career Grand Slam, this tournament’s always highlighted. If I can win one more tournament in my life, it would obviously be this one for that reason,” Spieth explained. “But the easiest way to do that is to not try to, in a weird way, you know.”
He continued: “Just go out and get ready for the first hole, get a good game plan in and attack it the way it needs to be attacked.”
In other words, rather than letting the pressure of completing the Grand Slam get to him, Spieth is going to treat this PGA Championship like any other week. And his recent stints in contention give him confidence that he can win.
“My game has been getting better and better. It’s plenty good to have a chance to win. It’s about working my way into contention. I was able to do that a couple weeks ago. Being in the last couple groups this weekend the first time this season. Glad I was there and hopefully I can do that this week and do better,” Spieth said.
Even if he does get into contention this weekend at Aronimink, Spieth doesn’t expect to feel any different than he would coming down the stretch at any other major.
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“But obviously with having won the other three [majors], [the PGA is] the one that everyone focuses on. But when I’m out here, and certainly when I get out on the golf course, I’ve been in contention a couple of times in this tournament. It didn’t feel any different than any other majors, so I wouldn’t expect to if I get there this week.”
Should he pull it off and join McIlroy as a career Grand Slam winner, Spieth admitted it would be “amazing,” but he added that winning the PGA Championship would be “special” even without the Grand Slam considerations.
“It would be amazing, right, because it’s just a very, very short list in history. So, you know, at the same time winning the PGA itself, you get to then play in the PGA for however long they allow you to. I don’t actually know the rules on the PGA. Is it 60? Forever? Or till you’re possibly asked that maybe we celebrate this as your — the same way Augusta does,” Spieth said on Tuesday. “Just winning this tournament in general would be very special. The Ryder Cup’s been such an important part of my life, and the PGA of America, having my instructor that I’ve been with for pretty much my whole career be a PGA of America professional, so there’s many reasons.”
When McIlroy finished off his career Grand Slam last year, it was the first time a player had done so since Tiger Woods in 2000. Rory’s came after years of near misses at Augusta and other majors, and the relief was palpable.
But Spieth sees his Grand Slam quest as very “different” from McIlroy’s. He thinks the celebrations for his Grand Slam would be more muted than they were for Rory’s.
“My situation was certainly different than [McIlroy’s] at Augusta, so I think that was unique to him, which is probably — you probably didn’t see that kind of reaction with the, what, other six or seven guys that have ever done it. And again, I don’t have video proof of when they won, so you’d have to fact-check me big time on that one,” Spieth explained.
He continued: “Rory’s was obviously a very unique final round and his history of having led there and stuff like that, so I don’t think it would feel similar. For me, it would just be like, look, I’ve been kind of — I went on a run of feeling like I was contending or having a good chance of contending at every major for a number of years and then it was periodic, and I feel like I’m close to being able to go back to doing that again. So I just want to give myself a chance.”
Whatever Spieth thinks the reaction might be, should he pull off his first major victory in nine years this week, it would instantly become one of the biggest golf stories of the century.
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