Grand Slam can de done

He got a look at it last year only to fall agonizingly short, but Jordan Spieth still says that winning all four majors in the same year is possible.

The then-21-year-old Texan took the golfing world by storm last year when he won the Masters and US Open and came close to becoming just the second player ever, after Ben Hogan, to win the first three majors of the year at the British Open.

He finished the year with a 1-1-T4-2 record in golf's four crown jewels tournaments -- a performance that only Tiger Woods in recent years has been able to match.

At just 22, he has a good 20 years, and perhaps more, of top-level golf before him and plenty of other opportunities to make golfing history.

Asked if the Grand Slam was achievable, Spieth replied: "You know what, I would have said prior to last year, no.

"And it's very, almost, conceited for me to say because of last year maybe. But we were so close and it was one break here or there.

"Now we got the breaks this week, and we certainly got the breaks at the US Open. It was a golf course where you needed to get breaks at Chambers Bay. Here you have kind of got to create your own.

"We were really, really close. I had control of my own destiny at The Open Championship. And then the PGA, I'll use an excuse right now and say, there was a three-stroke difference in the draw.

"There might be someone some day that comes along that's as dominant as Tiger was in 2000, 2001 and, yeah, if they're just that good, you can get the breaks, and even if you don't, you can still maybe win.

"Man, I got as good breaks as I could last year and didn't pull it off. But we were very close."

The key to Grand Slam success, he added, would be able to deal with all the attention that would be heaped on the head of any player winning the first three majors.

"I think it can happen, but especially with the way things have changed in the media and just the lack of ability to stay private, if someone wins the first three majors, it's going to be very difficult to shut out the noise by the fourth and to still play your own game."

- Stunning achievement -

Spieth's win at Augusta National last year was a stunning achievement as his 18-under total matched the best ever, set by Tiger Woods, and he became the second-youngest Masters winner after Woods.

And although the Texan will start his defense without a tournament win since the start of the year, he feels like his game is coming together nicely.

"Going to try and just use last year as momentum," he said.

"We know we're capable of playing this place. We have proven it to ourselves the last two years. So the focus is on this week, and we feel as confident as probably ever.

"So the game actually feels better right now than I think it did last year on Tuesday, so that's good if we can keep it consistent."

Spieth has a comfortable mid-morning start in Thursday's third round in the company of England's Paul Casey and fellow 22-year-old Bryson DeChambeau, a US amateur.
Source: AFP