Former A&M star Adri Arnaus making PGA Championship debut; Spieth looks for career slam
For someone who grew up in Barcelona and typically plays on the DP World Tour, Adri Arnaus sure feels at home this week at Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club, site of the 104th PGA Championship.
We’ve omitted one pertinent fact — the winner of this month’s Catalunya Championship spent four years honing his craft at Texas A&M, where he emerged from an afterthought during his freshman season to a key contributor in his last three years at College Station.
Making his debut at the PGA Championship this week, an event that was moved from Trump Bedminster last year, Arnaus has experienced a little déjà vu.
“This city reminds me a little bit of Texas, so it's like a familiar environment,” Arnaus said Wednesday.
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Although he hasn’t been able to make his mark on the PGA Tour yet, it’s still his long-term goal. He’s hoping a good showing at Southern Hills in a star-studded field that includes Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth will go a long way in proving he belongs.
“At the end of the day I want to play with the best players in the world, and I believe they are here in the PGA Tour. It's always great. Gets me very pumped up when I find them next to me on the range and when I play with them in competition. That has always been the goal,” he said. “I did have a little bit of a bump there, but I believe pretty much everyone had some sort of complications with COVID time. We just gathered ourselves up and kept playing good golf and did a couple tricks here and there swing-wise, and strength-wise, physically I'm probably a bit stronger.
“So yeah, we'll just say those are the main keys that allow me today to be here competing at a good level.”
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Jordan Spieth looking for career slam in Tulsa
Jordan Spieth isn’t afraid to address the elephant in the room.
The three-time major winner is one Wanamaker Trophy away from completing the career Grand Slam — an exclusive fraternity consisting of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods — and he’s never been in better form ahead of what will be a sixth attempt at the PGA Championship since winning the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale.
“It’s an elephant in the room for me. It’s a goal of mine,” Spieth said during his press conference. “If you just told me I was going to win one tournament the rest of my life, I’d say I want to win this one, given where things are at. … Long-term it would be really cool to say that you captured the four biggest golf tournaments in the world that are played in different parts of the world and different styles, too. So you feel like you kind of accomplished golf when you win a career Grand Slam, I guess.”
The career Grand Slam has been a recurring storyline for Rory McIlroy at the Masters, Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open and Spieth at the PGA, and there may never be a better opportunity for Spieth to seal the deal. Having claimed his third major four days ahead of his 24th birthday, Spieth is on the other side of a slump that saw him drop to No. 92 in the world and rebound into the top 10 (he’s currently No. 8).
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Texas' Parker Coody buries two aces in U.S. Open qualifier at Forest Creek
It’s been a fun few weeks for Parker Coody, who not only led the University of Texas men’s golf team back to the NCAA Tournament but also got through local qualifying for the U.S. Open in dramatic fashion.
Coody buried a pair of holes-in-one in the same round at Forest Creek Golf Club in Round Rock to get through — starting his day on the back nine he made an ace on the 160-yard 17th hole and then he followed it up by doing the same on the 190-yard eighth hole, which runs along Hilton Head Drive. He bogeyed the final hole of the day — a tough par 4 — but still qualified by a stroke.
"That was nuts," Coody told GolfChannel.com. "A couple of the rules officials were giving me a hard time about it, like, 'You've got to buy your group a pair of shoes or something.'"
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On Wednesday, Coody and his twin brother Pierceson led the way in the Norman Regional of the NCAA Tournament, helping the Longhorns get back to the national tournament in Scottsdale. The Coodys each shot a 70 in the final round, good enough to push Texas into a fourth-place finish behind Oklahoma, Auburn and Ole Miss. The top five teams all qualified for the tournament. The Longhorns’ Travis Vick had been the leader after two days, but he finished second in the individual standings behind Jackson Suber of Ole Miss.
The NCAA Tournament starts May 27 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Notes
• Before Farah O’Keefe won the UIL Class 5A state championship and committed to play at the University of Texas, the Anderson star crushed the rest of the field at the Bluebonnet Championship at Brownwood Country Club. Part of the Texas Golf Association’s Legends Junior Tour, O’Keefe won the event by five strokes, finishing with two rounds of 68 to take the title. And she didn’t slouch home in either round — playing the last three holes in a combined 5-under for the two rounds, including a closing eagle in her first round of action.
• Morris Williams Golf Course will be closed for routine maintenance next Monday.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor for Golfweek, golf coordinator for the USA Today Network and lives in Round Rock. Golfweek’s Adam Schupak also contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Jordan Spieth seeks career grand slam, Adri Arnaus makes PGA debut
