The winners of the first three majors are traditionally in the same group for the year’s final major, the PGA Championship.
But this time, it will be the winners of the last five majors – Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.
The PGA of America released the pairings for the first two rounds at Whistling Straits, with the threesome of McIlroy, Spieth and Johnson scheduled to tee off in Thursday’s first round from the first hole at 1:10 p.m. CT (2:10 p.m. ET). On Friday, they tee off from the 10th hole at 8:05 p.m. locally.
McIlroy, returning from an ankle injury that has kept him sidelined for the last month, not only is the defending PGA champion but also won The Open Championship in 2014.
Spieth, of course, won the first two majors this season, the Masters and U.S. Open, and came tantalizing close to winning The Open at St. Andrews last month. Instead, he fell one shot short of making a playoff that was eventually won by Johnson, who claimed his second career major.
With all four reigning major holders in one threesome, just call it the Super Slam group.
It’s not the first time it’s happened.
In 2001, Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen and David Duval played the first two rounds together at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. That threesome accounted for wins in the previous six majors.
Woods had completed the Tiger Slam earlier that year at the Masters, with Goosen following with a win at the U.S. Open and Duval winning The Open Championship after that.
At Whistling Straits, Spieth will look to become just the third player – after Ben Hogan and Woods – to win three majors in one season. He’ll also look to become the first player in TOUR history to complete the American Slam – Masters, U.S. Open, PGA – in the same year. When Hogan won three in 1953 and Woods won his three in 2000, both stretches including The Open Championship.
Woods nearly completed the American Slam in 2002, finishing with four birdies at Hazeltine but coming up one shot short of Rich Beem.
McIlroy, meanwhile, is seeking his third PGA title and fifth major. He’s hoping to become the first player since Woods in 2007 to successfully defend the PGA.
As for Johnson, a win at Whistling Straits would get him three-fourths of the way to the career Slam. The odds that he’ll do so actually aren’t too bad. In the last nine years, a player has won the year’s final two majors on three occasions -- McIlroy last year; Padraig Harrington in 2008 and Woods in 2006.
With Spieth having won the first two majors, a victory by Johnson would make just the third time since 1934 that all four majors were won by just two players.
In addition, if Spieth or Johnson wins – or any of their fellow Americans in the field – it would be the first time since 1982 that the U.S. would sweep all four majors. That year, Craig Stadler won the Masters, Tom Watson won the U.S. Open and Open Championships, and Raymond Floyd won the PGA Championship.
The Americans last had this opportunity in 1995 (Ben Crenshaw, Corey Pavin, John Daly) until Steve Elkington of Australia won the PGA Championship at Riviera.