American golfer
Jordan Spieth teed off this morning at the 144th Open Championship hoping to continue his journey of completing a career grand slam.
The 21-year-old enters the third major of the season as number 2 in the world, already having won both the Masters and the U.S. Open this year. A win on Sunday at St. Andrews would make Spieth the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win the first three majors of the season. A feat the Texan says he is more than ready for.
“I don’t feel intimidated by anybody,” Spieth told reporters earlier this week. “Whoever is up at the top of the leaderboard, I want to knock them off.”
With defending champion and World Number 1 Rory McIlroy having to sit this one out due to a football injury, Spieth’s path to success looks pretty clear. Claiming the Claret Jug on Sunday would also mean Spieth would overtake McIlroy in the top spot of the world rankings.
Known for his cool and calm demeanour, Spieth continues to take the challenges as they come this season. Despite never having played a competitive round at St. Andrews the Titleist player chose to compete last week at the John Deere Classic in Illinois where he won a play-off final against Tom Gillis.
But the lack of prep time in Scotland, Spieth only arrived at the Open on Monday, isn’t appearing to have put any added pressure on the golfer.
“Coming over earlier certainly would have helped,” said Spieth. “But I liked the fact that I could go somewhere, play hard and win a PGA Tour event in preparation.”
Spieth will now be hoping that preparation pays off and keeps him on track to becoming the first golfer to win a modern day grand slam.
