London (AFP) – Jordan Spieth refuses to accept the form that led him to win three of golf’s major titles has been lost forever. The American won the US Masters, US Open, and British Open in a purple patch from 2015-17, leading many observers to suggest it was just a matter of time before he joined the select band of players who have completed a career Grand Slam of golf’s four most prestigious championships.
But while the US PGA has continued to remain elusive for Spieth, so has any other major title. This week, however, Spieth has another chance to end that drought in a British Open being staged at the Royal Birkdale course near Liverpool — the scene of his 2017 triumph in golf’s oldest major championship. The intervening nine years have been tough for the former world number one, with injuries and a loss of form meaning Spieth has won just two tournaments since the last of his three majors.
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But the 32-year-old hasn’t given up hope of adding a fourth major to his name. “I’ll never believe that until I’m at a point in my career where my health or whatever would be that, because if you give up on reaching your ceiling then I don’t see a point in playing any more. I’ll do everything I can to be the very best in the world because I know I can be. I have been. It’s nice to have the blueprint.”
Spieth’s best finish this year is eleventh, although there were signs of a reawakening at the Masters when he tied for twelfth, seven strokes behind the champion Rory McIlroy. “If you are capable of leading in every (statistical) category, then you are capable of doing great things: even this season I’ve been able to lead in each of the different categories,” he said. “There are things I can do significantly better now than when I was number one in the world, therefore there should be nothing to stop me in my own head to believe that I can reach that again.”
“I’m 32, I’m not 42. At 42 you’d really have to sacrifice a lot of things to try and do that. I don’t feel like I have to. I’m always comparing myself a bit to myself at my best, but not to try to be the exact player. I know my ceiling is where that level was so I’m going to strive for it with the type of player I am now.”
© 2024 AFP
