CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tiger Woods became the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam at age 24 when he crossed the Swilcan Bridge at St. Andrews and marched right into history. No one bothered asking who was next because no one was particularly close.It’s different now.That was some grand occasion for Rory McIlroy when he won the Masters. There was sheer joy from 17 years of trying to win the green jacket, the last 11 years fully aware that he could join the most exclusive group in golf. “Welcome to the club, kid,” is the text Woods sent him.That raised the question: Who’s next?The attention immediately falls to Jordan Spieth, who has been trying to complete the Grand Slam at the PGA Championship since 2017, the last time it was at Quail Hollow. He has never finished closer than six shots in those previous eight attempts.“There’s been a number of years I’ve come to the PGA, and no one’s really asked me about it,” Spieth said Tuesday. “There’s been some years where it was a storyline, I guess. It’s funny, I think if didn’t, then it wouldn’t have been a storyline for me here necessarily.”Perhaps he’s been lost behind McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, who has been trying to get the career slam since the 2014 U.S. Open. This year’s might be Lefty’s last chance. His five-year exemption to the U.S. Open from winning the 2021 PGA Championship at age 50 runs out.”I would put money on Jordan being the next guy,” Xander Schauffele said.But this is no easy money, even when it’s only one more major to win.That surely was the feeling some 60 years ago when golf celebrated a career Grand Slam in consecutive years — Gary Player at the 1965 U.S. Open, Jack Nicklaus at the 1966 U.S. Open. Next in line was Arnold Palmer. All he needed was the PGA Championship.“Certainly the incentive is there,” Palmer said when he arrived at Firestone for the 1966 PGA Championship …
