Jordan Spieth was scheduled to arrive in Scotland on
Monday, beginning preparations for this week’s British Open on the Old
Course at St. Andrews.
If all goes as planned, the Dallas native will find himself in even more unfamiliar territory Sunday night.
He would stand alone with fellow Texan Ben Hogan.
Spieth,
21, is one of six players to win golf’s first two majors in a calendar
year. Hogan is the only man to claim the first three.
“It's
pretty awesome,” Spieth said last week. “But to then have an
opportunity to get to a level where you would only include one name, and
that's Ben Hogan, that would be pretty cool, and then maybe zero names
after that. There’s an opportunity to actually be in a different
category in a single season.”
Bobby Jones in 1930
became the first and only player to win all four legs of that era’s
“impregnable quadrilateral” in one season — the U.S. Open, British Open,
U.S. Amateur and British Amateur.
Hogan’s 1953 season is one of the greatest in history, undeniably so in terms of majors.
At
age 40, his legs still battered from a near-fatal auto accident in
1949, he played only five full-field events. He won them all.
After
claiming the Masters by five strokes with a record score and going wire
to wire for a six-shot victory at the U.S. Open, Hogan embarked on his
first and only British Open.
Playing overseas was a major ordeal back then because of the impracticality of travel. Few Americans made the trip.
The
Grand Slam was not part of golf’s lexicon. In fact, stories leading up
to the 1953 Open Championship trumpeted Hogan’s attempt to claim
“golfdom’s triple crown.”
Byron Nelson played in
only one British Open, in 1937, the only year he played all four majors.
Sam Snead made just three Open appearances.
Despite
Hogan having won two Masters and four of the previous six U.S. Opens,
his otherwise impeccable résumé lacked a British Open title. He was
sensitive to criticism on that front. Amateur Jones, winner of three
British Opens, was a hero in the United Kingdom.
“Many
in the golf world have been hesitant to place Hogan among the greats
Harry Vardon, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen until he could prove himself
on the rugged surfaces of Britain’s great seaside courses,” wrote the
Associated Press in 1953.
That the Open was being contested at Carnoustie, one of the world’s toughest layouts, also figured in Hogan’s decision.
He
was so determined that he and his wife, Valerie, arrived two weeks
before the event (Spieth will have 72 hours to scout the Old Course).
Hogan
made a good impression on the Scots with his meticulous preparations.
He first walked Carnoustie in reverse. He adjusted his swing on iron
shots for the hard fairways, which jarred his wrists. He worked
especially hard with his driver, hoping to avoid the fairway bunkers and
the tall rough. He got accustomed to the greens, which were hard but
slower than they appeared.
Not everyone was
skeptical of Hogan’s chances. So much money was bet on him that the odds
on him winning were an astounding 6 to 4. Spieth has improved to a
9-to-2 favorite after world No. 1 Rory McIlroy withdrew because of an
ankle injury.
“Hogan should have no trouble at
Carnoustie,” said South African Bobby Locke, then the defending
champion. “He is the master of every golf shot. He can meet all
conditions.”
Hogan got better with each round. He
was tied for seventh after shooting 1-over 71 in the first round; tied
for fourth after his 71 in the second and then shot 70 to move into a
tie for first. His course-record 68 in the final round produced a
four-stroke win.
The “Wee Ice Mon,” as the Scots
called him, returned home by ship to a ticker-tape parade in New York
City with more than 150,000 people. He was treated to special
celebrations in Dallas and Fort Worth.
Hogan’s three-major feat has withstood challenges from the game’s best for 61 years.
Tiger
Woods is the only player since to win three straight majors in a
calendar year (2000). Woods won four consecutive, completing the “Tiger
Slam” with the 2001 Masters. Jack Nicklaus won three straight majors —
the 1971 PGA and 1972 Masters and U.S. Open.
Of
the four players other than Hogan, who did it twice, Nicklaus and Arnold
Palmer came closest to winning the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open
in the same season. Both fell one stroke short at the British Open —
Palmer at St. Andrews in 1960 and Nicklaus at Muirfield in 1972. Thirty
years after Nicklaus, Woods also lost his bid to win the season’s first
three majors at Muirfield, finishing T28 in 2002.
“You
have to understand your main priorities,” Woods said before the 2000
PGA Championship. “For me, it’s winning majors. I try to devote my
schedule to get ready for those tournaments, peak those four times a
year and see what happens.”
Spieth’s season is
already historically significant. He knows what’s at stake this week.
And if he claims the Claret Jug on Sunday, he will have the chance to go
where no man has before at the PGA Championship in August.
“If
I can somehow stay with those names for years to come versus just this
season, that's when it's really, really going to set in and be extremely
cool,” Spieth said. “I realize how hard it is this year. So to keep
that focus and that preparation and hard work, you know, I only hope
that I continue to have the desire I have now. I don’t see it going
away, but you need a lot of good breaks, too.”