Jordan Spieth's PGA Championship quest starts with familiar round of highs and lows

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Jordan Spieth’s opening round at the 2026 PGA Championship was a lot like so many of his rounds of late – good but not good enough.

Spieth shot 1-under 69 at Aronimink Golf Club on Thursday but he left with a sour taste in his mouth after a pair of late bogeys cost him a share of the early lead.

“I struck the ball well. I drove it really well. I was in a good position on a lot of holes. If I drive it like that, I'd expect to shoot what I did or better,” said Spieth, who spoke only to a PGA media official after the round. “Just didn't quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under-par was a good score.”

Jordan Spieth of the United States looks on from the seventh green during the first round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 14, 2026 in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Spieth, a three-time major winner, is seeking to claim the Wanamaker Trophy and become the seventh golfer to complete the career Grand Slam. This is his 10th attempt to do so. But Spieth hasn’t won any tournament in more than four years and hasn’t even recorded a top-10 finish in nearly a year.

In pursuit of joining an exclusive club, Spieth opened with 1-under 34 on the back nine. He made a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-5  and canned a 10-foot par putt at 17. He shaped a beauty left to right at 18 but couldn’t convert the birdie. He was hitting fairways, controlling his ball flight and rolling his rock on the greens.

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On No. 1, he flicked a wedge to 10 feet below the hole and dropped the birdie putt. But one hole later, he made his first miscue, leaving the cover on his 43-foot birdie putt and missing the 7-footer for par. He got back on the par train until planting his tee shot at No. 5 to 3 feet and wedging to 7 feet at No. 6. Spieth had not led at the end of a major championship round (shared or outright) since the third round of the 2018 Open Championship and his fanbase needed to blow in a paper bag to prevent from hyperventilating. But that was the last circle on the card for Spieth. He bogeyed Nos. 7 and 8 and his share of the lead evaporated.