Kern: Spieth has time to reach major goals

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - Last year Jordan Spieth won two majors, missed a playoff in another by a stroke and was second in the fourth. So naturally the golf world began pondering how long it would take him to do something along those lines again, if not maybe even surpass that. It's the way this expectation stuff works. We're all on the lookout for the next Tiger Woods, even if it happens to be Rory McIlroy one summer and Jason Day the next. Or was that Dustin Johnson?

Perspectives can change like that. Spieth was on his way to winning a second straight Masters in April when he let a three-shot lead slip away in a matter of a couple of holes on the final nine. It happens, although it never happened to Tiger. Since then he's been a nonfactor at the U.S. and British Opens. But that's OK. He just turned 23 on Wednesday. And he has won twice this season. It's just that people start, well, asking different questions. And Spieth seemed a little put off that they were, even if that's what comes with the territory.

It's a reality that Tiger and Jack Nicklaus before him always had to live with. And so will the Spieths and McIlroys of the food chain, or at least for as long as they're trying to be that next guy. And that's a good thing, even if it means having to explain yourself sometimes. There were years when Tiger won a bunch of tournaments without winning a major and had to let everyone in on what that meant in his overall career.

Better than not being asked because you've become irrelevant.

Spieth comes to the season's final major, the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, as the fourth betting favorite behind U.S. Open champ Johnson, McIlroy and defending champ Day. That's OK too. If he wins, or maybe even if he doesn't, he figures to be the one to beat next year at Augusta National. Barring something unforeseen. And the planet will continue to spin.

"It is what it is," said Spieth, who will head out in Thursday's first round with Sergio Garcia - who remains the best golfer to never win a major - and two-time Masters champ Bubba Watson from the first tee at 1:25 in the afternoon. "I felt like I improved as a player and not (had) the same results. And to everybody else, it will look like it wasn't an improvement. But maybe to me it does.

"I think I'm the same player. I've just been getting a bit too frustrated, maybe because of that, on the golf course at times. But recently, I've gotten back to kind of the gunslinger, the way that I grew up playing, which is just step up and hit it. I went from over-dissecting shots to really feeling like less is more. It's really helped me.

"(At) the Open Championship (two weeks ago) I hit the ball extremely well and just had an off putting week. I feel like I'm actually trending very much in the right direction right now."

Fair enough. He figures to be around for a long time. What that means in terms of chasing Tiger's 14 majors or Jack's 18, nobody knows for sure. It's way too early. You could say the same about McIlroy, maybe even Day. It takes decades to make a career and legacy. That doesn't stop the projections. Tiger went through periods where he didn't win. Then he came back even better. Ditto, Nicklaus. That's why they became who they were. If any of these current top guys win half as many majors as either Tiger or Jack, they'll go down among the best. But somehow, someway, we want more. So do they. And therein lies the inherent struggle, from both outwardly and within.

"I'd love to sit here and say I'm going to win a major every year for the next (whatever number of years)," McIlroy said. "I could retire at 40 and be very happy. I think it's realistic, I really do. If you're that good, you can do that. We've seen in the past that that's achievable. That's the benchmark. That's what you're trying to get to. It's hard. But I guess (in 2011), '12, '13 (and) '14, in that stretch of four years I averaged a major a year. There's no reason to think I can't do that for the forseeable future. I have to play my best golf, and sometimes it's hard to play your best golf each and every week. But I definitely think it's attainable."

Tiger got his 14 from 1997-2008. Jack won 18 from 1962-86.

"I set my own expectations so high," Spieth acknowledged. "So have I met them this year? Not yet. I still can, based on the goals that we set. It's just about staying focused on those. It is hard to do . . .

"If we're in a valley, that's a great valley to be in, right? You mature each time going through it, and I feel like I've matured quite a bit this year as a person and a player in trying to . . . keep the outside noise outside."

There were some who thought Tiger might never win another major after he changed his swing for the second time and went through a stretch of 10 winless majors in 2002-04. When he was only in his late 20s. Then he added six more to his résumé, before injuries and life got in the way.

Spieth can only hope people are writing him off some day after he's collected like a handful or so more grand slam titles.

"I don't think there's any Tiger out here right now," he said. "I think that's fair to say. Only time will tell."

Precisely.

"I was pretty satisfied for quite awhile (after winning his first major)," he continued, when asked about maintaining a proper balance. "Then you tee it up in the next (one) and all a sudden you have a chance to make some kind of (additional) history. That fuels you.

"It doesn't happen very often."

Maybe we should appreciate it when it does, instead of questioning it so much when it doesn't.

@mikekerndn