Jordan Spieth’s done all that can have been reasonably asked of him, but he’s still asking more of himself.
Coming into a course he barely knew, barely time to get over jet-lag, with all the pressure and attention that going for the third leg of a Grand Slam inevitably entails, playing until dusk on Friday, barely three hours sleep before up again to play just four holes in 12 hours on Saturday.
All that, and Spieth is still in with a chance of doing what only Ben Hogan has done, and thereafter to go to Whispering Straits in a month’s time and aim for what many thought was unachievable. And he does this at just 21 years old with an almost incredible calm and assurance.
Put all that together, add in the mid-round adjustment he made to correct a flaw that was slowly ruining the impossible dream, and yesterday’s six-under 66 to lie just one behind the leaders was barely believable.
Coming off the ninth yesterday, it was all going wrong. He’d played 27 holes in even par from Thursday’s brilliant start and he showed visible signs of frustration.
“That’s poor if you want to win,” he said. “Walking off the ninth was as frustrated as I’ve been in a tournament, also 14 yesterday morning,” he said.
“I couldn’t hold it in, I think I punched my golf bag. I didn’t want to hit (caddie) Michael (Geller), so I figured I’d hit my golf bag.
“To be at 2-under at that point when the front nine is gettable and it’s as easy as the conditions get, I was extremely frustrated there.”
But in the process he solved a slight putting flaw in alignment, and he bounced back just when he needed to.
“I had the feeling (the form) was still there,” he continued after his four-under back nine. “It was there in the practice rounds, and to get to whatever I was at, 19 or 20 under last week, you’ve got to be doing something right.
“At this point it’s free rolling. I’m going to play to win, and I’m not playing for a place. I don’t want to be third.
“I highly doubt somebody really breaks through in the pack tomorrow given this golf course can yield a lot of birdies, so it’ll be a pretty bunched leaderboard, so it’s just giving myself as many chances as I can. I’m going to have to play aggressive golf.”
The spectre of the third leg of the Grand Slam? Bring it on, he says.
“It hasn’t come up in my head while I’ve been playing yet. If I have a chance coming down the stretch, and if it creeps in, I’ll embrace it.
“As far as handling it, I don’t look at it as a negative thing, I look at it almost as an advantage.
“Why should it add more pressure in a negative way? It just makes me feel like this is something that’s a little more special, so let’s go ahead and get the job done.
“I see it as something that’s only been done once before, and it was a long time ago. That opportunity very rarely comes around, and I’d like to have a chance to do something nobody has ever done.
“That’s just going to go into my fight tomorrow. I do recognise what’s at stake, and for me to accomplish that feat is going to be to simplify things and to just go about our business.”