ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The Jordan Spieth Grand Slam is not dead yet.
The possibility of Spieth becoming the second player ever and first since Ben Hogan in 1953 to capture the first three majors in the same year remains in play through 36 holes of the British Open.
Spieth completed his second round in 72 on Saturday and is five shots behind leader Dustin Johnson, the player he vanquished in the final round of the U.S. Open last month at Chambers Bay.
“I believe I’m still in contention,’’ Spieth said. “I still believe I can win this tournament. I need a really solid round [Sunday], though, because Dustin is not letting up. Dustin is going to shoot a good round [Sunday] with less wind, and I’m going to need to shoot a great round to really give myself a chance.
“To fall from two back to five back isn’t exactly what I wanted, but it could have been worse, could have been better. If I can shoot something like 10-under in the last two rounds, I think I’ll have a chance to win.’’
Spieth said he has not felt the pressure of the Grand Slam this week.
“When we’re out on the course inside the ropes, it’s just another event,” he said, “and [I am] working as hard as I can to get into contention and beat the best players in the world.
“I understand where we’re at off the course, but it doesn’t do any good thinking about that. It does better for me focusing on the task at hand. That’s what we did in the first two majors.’’
Spieth made a rare misstep on the putting greens in his second round, three-putting an alarming five times, including twice in Saturday’s completion.
“I had four [three-putts] twice at Chambers Bay, so I can look back on that positively and maybe rebound from it,’’ Spieth said. “I left myself with 80-foot putts over ridges, so my second putts were outside 5 feet. My proximity to the hole needs to be better.
“I’m in contention, but losing three shots to the leader is not pleasing. I need a really special round [Sunday], because it’s hard to make up ground [in the final round] when you’re forcing stuff.’’
Spieth said he will “adjust’’ to the slower greens after leaving too many putts short in the second round.
“I just was mad that I left two putts short,’’ he said. “That was what was really frustrating was that I just wasn’t hitting them hard enough and not adjusting to the speeds and playing the wind. It was myself.’’
Nevertheless, Spieth insisted he is not discouraged with his position, though he knows he needs to kick in a low round Sunday.
“All in all, I thought at the beginning of the day [Friday] when we were about to start our round, my goal was to shoot 1-under,’’ he said. “I thought that would be a good score, and I played alongside a 3-under [Johnson] and a 6-under [Hideki Matsuyama], so I kind of got showed up.’’
Spieth said he stayed around the locker room during the 10 ½-hour weather delay and went back to his hotel room for a nap.
“Just a lot of waiting, but it happens,’’ he said “I’m pleased that we did wait because that would have been even harder [to keep playing in the morning]. It was definitely challenging on that 16th and 17th hole, but 18 with this wind the way it was and a little heavier wind, I was able to smooth a drive out there and hit it on the middle of the green [and birdie the last].”
