KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — We gather here with trepidation. This Week in Spieth is on death watch, here in mid-afternoon on this Friday of the PGA Championship.
Just a short while ago, we gathered elsewhere, all of us — some of us in person, others virtually — on a high dune above the ninth green, where Spieth’s workday concluded.
The round had been long and windblown. The golf had not been stellar. Still, young Spieth, the only man among the 155 playing in this great championship in position to complete the career grand slam this week, came to ninth green at 3 over par.
The 36-hole cut, for the low-70 golfers including ties, looked like it would be 3 over par. The gentleman from Dallas needed a par to finish.
Spieth, on that ninth green, his last, lined up a 22-foot putt for birdie. That’s one way to say it. The other is, he needed to get down in two to be certain that he would make the cut. His first putt left him with a three-footer.
We held our breath. Everybody attached to This Week in Spieth and millions of other well-wishers.
The gentleman from Dallas missed it.
The groan heard ‘round the world.
It was 1:50 in the afternoon. The round had taken five hours and 20 minutes to play, if that is in fact the correct word. Spieth was the last player to come off that ninth green, the last player to go up a set of steps, across a foot bridge and down another.
There was a cart waiting for him, right behind the first tee. Twenty-four hours earlier, Spieth had been in that exact spot, with the bubble of hope. Golf is good at that.
He shot a first-round 73, 1 over par, with a bogey at the last. He shot a second-round 75, with a bogey at the last.
Now he was in the long cart’s last row, waiting for his caddie, Michael Greller, to take the seat next to him.
Spieth looked at his card, pencil in hand. He might have been shaking his head, it was hard to say from high on the hill. Greller took his spot, securing Spieth’s large Tour bag between his knees.
The cart went rumbling along a dirt path, in the brilliant sunshine, its tires leaving behind a trail of dust. Spieth was making the half-mile or so drive to the clubhouse. At the same time, Collin Morikawa, the reigning PGA champion, was heading the other way, on this service road, with his 2:08 tee time coming up soon enough.
You know what they say: between Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth, you have the career grand slam.
The afternoon was bound to be long for Jordan Spieth. There was nothing he could do to improve his position on the leaderboard. Only the golfers upon it could help him with that. High afternoon scores could mean that the cut could go from 3 over to 4 over. At 4 over, Spieth would be playing on the weekend, and at least have an outside chance of completing his quest.
