PGA Championship: Jordan Spieth falls short of career Grand Slam, but is excited about his play

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Jordan Spieth fell short at the PGA Championship in his bid to become the sixth player in golf history to compete the career Grand Slam, but he felt encouraged with his game over the four rounds at Bethpage Black.

“This is the best I've felt in quite a while,” Spieth said Sunday after a 71 led to a 278 total and a tie for third – his best finish of the 2019 season.

“It's the same reason the last five or six years, my best finishes are in the majors. We pick a plan to peak for the majors. You do everything to try and peak for these tournaments and you put in extra time and hours, just stuff that would be almost impossible to do week-in and week-out. Fortunately, what we do is correct.

“My score in majors typically reflects the state of my game at that time and I've been speaking to how it's been closer and better than maybe results would show, and I felt like it is about -- it feels about how I finish this week.”

He admitted that it was “unlikely” for him to have a chance to win here, “but I knew that if I played the course the right way, had the right mentality, kept putting the way I've been putting, that I would be in it … having a chance to make some noise.”

Spieth finished first in the field in Strokes Gained Putting and was fourth in scrambling, making par 19 times out of the 28 greens he missed over four days. His driving continued to be an issue – he hit just 27 of 56 fairways – but he sees positive signs.

“I felt like I made progress from where I was last week,” he said. “I feel like I can go to a course next week [Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas] that I’ve had success at, and is a way better fit for me I think than Bethpage.

“Bethpage, just when the rough is up this high, obviously, I can’t pick a course that’s probably further away from it being for me. Having said that, and still feeling like I have work to do, I’m in a good place.”