PGA Championship 2026: Can Jordan Spieth be part of Rory McIlroy in golf’s Grand Slam membership and who else could possibly be subsequent?

Jordan Spieth believes his recreation is primed to problem for PGA Championship victory, however insists his stress to finish the profession Grand Slam is completely different to what Rory McIlroy confronted.

McIlroy grew to become simply the sixth male to win all 4 main titles together with his dramatic play-off victory at The Masters final April, securing the Inexperienced Jacket in his seventeenth look at Augusta Nationwide and 11 years on from finishing the third leg of the Grand Slam.

Spieth received The Masters and US Open in 2015 earlier than securing The Open in 2017, with this 12 months’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Membership – reside from Thursday on Sky Sports activities Golf – his tenth alternative to say the elusive lacking main required to affix golf’s Grand Slam membership.

“My situation was certainly different than his [McIlroy’s] at Augusta, so I think that was unique to him,” Spieth insisted. “You probably didn’t see that kind of reaction with the other guys that have ever done it.

“Rory’s was clearly a really distinctive remaining spherical and his historical past of getting led there [2011, when he blew a four-shot lead on the final day] and stuff like that, so I do not assume it might really feel related.

“I went on a run of feeling like I was contending or having a good chance of contending at every major for a number of years and then it was periodic, and I feel like I’m close to being able to go back to doing that again. So I just want to give myself a chance.”

Spieth completed runner-up to Jason Day on the PGA Championship in 2015, the 12 months he completed no worse than fourth in all 4 majors, however his share of third within the 2019 contest is his solely different top-10 end on the occasion since.

The previous world No 1 has dropped exterior the world’s prime 50 after failing to register a worldwide top-10 thus far in 2026, arriving at Pennsylvania after a share of 52nd ultimately week’s Truist Championship, though he insists he can problem to say a primary PGA Tour win since 2022.

“If I can win one more tournament in my life, it would obviously be this one for that reason [Grand Slam],” Spieth defined. “But the easiest way to do that is to not try to, in a weird way.

“Simply exit and prepare for the primary gap, get a very good recreation plan in and assault it the way in which it must be attacked. My recreation has been getting higher and higher. It is lots good to have an opportunity to win.”

Scheffler subsequent if Spieth fails to seek out Grand Slam?

Ought to Spieth fall brief in his bid to say the lacking main required, world No 1 Scottie Scheffler can develop into the seventh golfer to the game’s most unique membership by profitable the US Open this summer season.

Scheffler simply must win at Shinnecock Hills – the place the ultimate spherical takes place on his thirtieth birthday – to have received all 4 majors and full {golfing} greatness, having already outshone McIlroy to dominate the highest of the lads’s recreation in current seasons.

He claimed a maiden main victory at The Masters in 2022 and reclaimed his title two years later, whereas dominant wins on the PGA Championship and The Open final season left him primed to be the following Grand Slammer.

“Since Rory accomplished that [Grand Slam], it’s on the front of everybody’s mind,” Scheffler mentioned after profitable The Open at Royal Portrush final July. “It’s for sure a career achievement but I don’t focus too much on that stuff.”

There isn’t any assure there can be instantaneous Grand Slam success for Scheffler, given Spieth and McIlroy’s previous struggles, with Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Raymond Floyd all earlier gamers to retire one main away from finishing the set.

Phil Mickelson is one other who simply requires the US Open – an occasion he has completed runner-up at six instances, though has missed the minimize 4 years working and isn’t listed within the discipline for this 12 months’s contest.

May Rahm transfer a step nearer to the Grand Slam?

Rahm claimed a maiden main title on the 2021 US Open and received The Masters two years later, which means a victory in Pennsylvania this week would give him the prospect to finish the Grand Slam at The Open later this summer season.

The previous world No 1 claimed a share of eighth final 12 months, his third top-eight end on the PGA Championship, with Rahm briefly sharing the lead in the course of the remaining spherical till he performed the ultimate three holes in 5 over.

“I would love to do it [the Grand Slam] – obviously it’s not easy,” Rahm mentioned forward of final 12 months’s PGA Championship. “I think obviously it would be a lot more on my mind if I were to win a third different one, kind of like Jordan [Spieth] has been able to do.

“Proper now, if I ever had a thought, I am going to focus extra on amount of majors moderately than which of them. As an instance I by no means obtain it, I might moderately have a state of affairs like Sir Nick Faldo – the place he has six of two of them – as an alternative of getting possibly three completely different ones, if that is smart.

“If you get all four of them and if you won each one once, I think it’s so significant that you might take that over six. But as in right now, I’d rather just think more about number three, and if it happens to be The Open or the PGA [Championship], then I’ll focus on a possible Grand Slam.”

Johnson is one other with the chance to maneuver three quarters of the way in which in the direction of the Grand Slam this week, having received the 2016 US Open and the 2020 Masters, however has solely registered two top-20 finishes in majors since becoming a member of the LIV Golf League in the summertime of 2022.

The American has missed the minimize in three of his final 5 PGA Championship appearances, together with final 12 months, though posted back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2019 and 2020.

Who else could possibly be subsequent to becoming a member of golf’s Grand Slam membership?

Collin Morikawa has completed no worse than tied-Twenty fifth in his final 5 US Open appearances and been inside the highest 20 the final six years at The Masters, together with a share of third in 2014, having already received the PGA Championship (2020) and The Open (2021).

“If it [the Grand Slam] doesn’t creep in [to your mind], then you really don’t care,” Morikawa mentioned at The Masters in 2025. “For me, you care so you want to put yourself in these positions. It doesn’t always work out, but it’s definitely something you want to try and accomplish.”

Xander Schauffele has additionally received the identical two majors as Morikawa, lifting each the PGA Championship and The Open in 2024, with the American already having 13 different profession top-10s throughout The Masters and The Open.

“Before I had any Majors, it [the Grand Slam] was something I’ve always wanted,” Schauffele mentioned after profitable the Claret Jug. “I’m one step closer and still have a long way to go. But if you don’t see yourself doing it, you’re never going to do it.”

Brooks Koepka had probably the most males’s main victories within the final 20 years till McIlroy’s back-to-back Masters wins surpassed his tally, with the previous world No 1 having three PGA Championship wins (2018, 2019 and 2023) alongside his successive US Open titles in 2017 and 2018.

Koepka has didn’t register a significant top-10 since profitable the Wanamaker Trophy for a 3rd time at Oak Hill, though – like Johnson and Rahm – may transfer inside one title of the Grand Slam ought to he handle to win The Open at Royal Birkdale this July.

Bryson DeChambeau is a two-time US Open champion and has back-to-back runner-up finishes within the final two editions of the PGA Championship. If he may go one higher this week, he would parachute himself into the dialog as a possible future Grand Slam contender.

There was a 25-year hole between McIlroy becoming a member of Tiger Woods within the Grand Slam membership. Many gamers on this week’s PGA Championship discipline can be wanting to make sure the watch for the seventh member does not take as lengthy.

Who will win the PGA Championship? Watch all through the week reside on Sky Sports activities. Dwell protection from the opening spherical begins on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports activities Golf. Get Sky Sports activities or stream with no contract.