Putting The (Incredibly Rare) Modern Grand Slam Into Perspective

He's got the first two legs of the Grand Slam. Yet, perhaps because he's been on vacation, there has been too little chatter about where this feat puts Jordan Spieth's year headed into St. Andrews.

Five before him have technically had a "chance" to win the modern Grand Slam of golf, only three men legitimately had a shot. As Victor Mather presented the Grand Slam story a week ago in the New York Times, Ben Hogan's opportunities in 1951 and 1953 were compromised by scheduling.

That leaves Arnold Palmer in 1960, Jack Nicklaus in 1972, Tiger Woods in 2002 and now Jordan Spieth in 2015 with a chance to win the Grand Slam after winning the first two modern majors.

Pretty heady company.

In 1951, Ben Hogan took the first two majors. But he would have faced a significant hurdle for a Grand Slam: The British Open started a day after the P.G.A. ended. After sustaining terrible injuries in a car crash in 1949, Hogan played a light schedule, and in the end he elected not to compete in the last two majors.

In 1953, after once again winning the Masters and the U.S. Open, he did travel to Scotland to play in the only British Open of his career. He won, but once again could not play in the P.G.A. because the events overlapped. That was the only time a Masters and U.S. Open winner also won the British Open. It was Hogan’s ninth, and final, major victory.

Though the victory was front-page news, there was not much hand-wringing over his missing the P.G.A.; the modern concept of the Grand Slam would not solidify in the public’s mind until the early 1960s.
Arnold Palmer, who often spoke about his desire to win the Grand Slam, won the first two legs in 1960. He came close in the British Open that year, losing to Kel Nagle by a stroke.

Jack Nicklaus’s turn came in 1972. Like Palmer, he missed a British Open win by a stroke, losing to Lee Trevino.

After Palmer and Nicklaus, it took 30 years and the emergence of another of the game’s greatest golfers to get another Masters-U.S. Open winner. In 2002, Tiger Woods won his seventh and eighth majors and went into the British Open alive for the Slam. But he shot an 81 on Saturday in terrible conditions, and wound up tied for 28th.

As for the "other" Grand Slam won by Bobby Jones in 1930, he kicked it off with a 7&6 win at The Old Course over the vaunted Roger Wethered.

The highlights show him hitting quite the miraculous Road bunker recovery...

Update on 2015-07-03 06:22 by Geoff

**For those in the If-Tony-Lema-Can-Show-Up-At-St.-Andrews-sight-unseen-then-Jordan-can-too, class, I give you Tony Lema after his win in 1964:

He was far more useful to me than a club. Without his help I doubt if I could have won it. It amazed me the way he just put the club in my hand.

That's Lema on his caddie Tip Anderson. Yes, that Tip Anderson.

NY Times: Trump Name Sullying Ferry Point's U.S. Open Chance

As Donald Trump digs in with rapist slurs directed at immigrants despite losing several business partnerships and receiving a light scolding from four of golf's five ruling families, the NY Times' Ginia Bellafante considers Trump Ferry Point, public-private partnerships and the backlash to Donald Trump.

Bellafante writes:

But how likely is it now that the United States Open, so dependent on corporate sponsorships, will be scheduled on a public course named for someone who said he is committed to building a wall at the Mexican border to keep out drug dealers and “rapists”? Although you could argue that none of his comments could have been anticipated, getting blindsided by craziness from Mr. Trump is like landing at a monastery only to be surprised that it’s quiet.

A day after Mr. Trump told the Golf Channel that he had “tremendous support from the golf world because they all know I’m right,” the country’s major professional golf associations issued a joint statement saying, “Mr. Trump’s comments are inconsistent with our strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming environment in the game of golf.”

That followed the move on the part of NBC Universal to sever ties with Mr. Trump on his television projects and an announcement from the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that it would no longer consider Trump hotels as sites for two conventions next year that make up the largest meetings of Hispanic business leaders in the country.

“He has no idea what’s coming,” the organization’s president, Javier Palomarez, told me. “The Hispanic community is really galvanized around this.”

Fortune's Daniel Roberts dredges up Trump's February comments suggesting that golf should be more aspirational than inclusive, something he's stated on many occasions. Though I've always found those comments to be more anti-Grow-The-Game initiative driven than anything sinister suggesting a hatred of the poor.

Still, with the upcoming presidential campaign likely centering on income inequality, the comments will get plenty of play.

But more problematic in the short term for Trump or paragraphs like this:

Attention could soon turn to some of Trump’s golf partners, including the PGA and Cadillac. The PGA entered into an official partnership with Trump last year. Cadillac is not a Trump sponsor but has naming rights to the WGC-Cadillac tournament, which was held this year at Trump National Doral, his course in Miami. Cadillac has a huge operation in Mexico: The Cadillac SRX is made there and accounts for some 40% of Cadillac’s U.S. sales. Cadillac had no comment for this story.

66: Tiger's Back! He Wasn't "Far Away" After All (Or So He Says)

His feels did not feel far off, or so Tiger claimed after a shocking 66 in the Greenbrier Classic opener that had the former World No. 1 sounding pretty confident in the state of his game.

Karen Crouse in the New York Times reports.

Woods returned this week with a head of steam too weak to move a ball off the tee, and opened with a 66 on Thursday. Go figure. It was his best first-round score in 22 months, and, at four-under, it equaled his lowest score relative to par this year.

“I know people think I’m crazy for saying that, but I just felt like I wasn’t that far away,” said Woods, who dismissed the notion that he had proved anything to anybody with the good start.

All that mattered to him was that he was four strokes behind the pacesetter, Scott Langley.

“Forget you guys and everybody else out there,” Woods said, laughing. “It’s about winning golf tournaments and putting myself up there consistently.”

He's back! Until he's not.

Steve DiMeglio's report implies that Tiger actually cleared his head instead of trying to get more technical.

“ … I didn’t touch a club for a while (after the U.S. Open). Took my kids down to Albany, and we were down diving in the water every day all day pretty much. It was nice to have a summer break with them like that, especially after the way I played.”

Tiger: "Feels Travel."

Tiger Woods was asked about Jordan Spieth's decision to play the John Deere Classic instead of the Scottish Open or practice rounds at the Old Course (ala his arrive-early U.S. Open preparation).

The golf cognoscenti and the fine readers of this site are lauding young Spieth's loyalty while I think it's the first really poor choice made in the handling of Spieth's career. Most of the greats (and eventual Open Champions) have gone early for various reasons. And most of the time that was without a Grand Slam on the line. The chances of winning at the Old Course greatly improve for Spieth if he and his excellent caddie spend time acclimating to the nuances, wind directions and complex putting surfaces, especially since he's shown an incredible ability to process information better than people twice his age.

Spieth should be most concerned though that his competitors are encouraging the move. Tiger Woods today, asked at the Greenbrier Classic endorsed the move (even though Tiger will arrive the weekend before, and he has two Open wins at the Old Course).

Will Gray reports:

“I think it’s great for him to play, get the playing feels, keep the playing feels going,” Woods said Wednesday at The Greenbrier Classic. “Whether you’re playing here or overseas, doesn’t really matter, (as) long as you have your feels. Feels travel.”

Feels travel!

Your honor, I have nothing further at this time. Oh wait, the witness is still talking...

“I think he’s played enough links-type golf courses. He did all right at Chambers (Bay),” Woods said. “He’s played the British Opens before. St. Andrews will be a little bit different, there will be a lot to learn in a short time. But he’s young, and he can spend the energy playing 18 holes every day and be fine.”

Hopefully a practice round isn't fogged out like last time, because young Spieth's going to need all three practice rounds to get ready.

Update on 2015-07-02 00:42 by Geoff

**Even John Deere Classic tournament director Clair Peterson sounds like he expected Spieth to take up his possible once-in-a-lifetime chance to best prepare for a Grand Slam by skipping the Deere this year.

John Strege reports for The Loop.

“Whatever Jordan feels is best for him we’re happy to accept,” Peterson said. “If he would have contacted us and said, as some have argued, he felt like it was going to be difficult for him to be competitive at the [British] Open and still come to the John Deere, we view our relationship as a long-term relationship, we would have been fine with that.”