Spieth eyes making PGA cut, before tilt at history

What if the Grand Slam had still been on the line?

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. >> Rory McIlroy faces a different set of questions from the last time he played, and he had answers for majority.

He’s gone seven years without winning a major, he’s ranked No. 278 in the world and now Tiger Woods is even struggling to land a joke.

The American, who is fresh off his Open Championship win at St Andrews, indicated that the course will not offer the field a “true links” experience this weekend.

It’s no fluke. It’s not coincidence.

Camilo Villegas has endured a roller-coaster ride of form since his career-best year on the PGA Tour in 2008 but is banking on reigniting his game at this week’s PGA Championship at one of his favourite venues.

“We live in such a world that everything’s so reactionary and everything happens so quickly”, he said Wednesday at his pre-tournament news conference. He also won the final major of the year in 2012. Eras last about six months these days instead of 20 years. I feel like I’m playing well.

“I expect to play well”.

“I missed a lot of makeable, short putts that week and still had a chance to win coming down the stretch”, added the two-time major victor. The last time they swept them in one year was in 1982.

Spieth and McIlroy will play alongside British Open champion Zach Johnson in an enticing grouping for the first two rounds at Whistling Straits. “Then we knew that, ‘OK, you’re ready to go.’ And if I hadn’t have passed that test, I wouldn’t have been here”. His game makes him a contender at Whistling Straits. But he’s fully confident that his ankle is fine. “I was lucky that I didn’t do more damage and thankfully after five weeks of hard work and rehab I’m back playing”.

“That ligament that I ruptured, I don’t have that anymore”.

“I’ve been practising for over three weeks getting my game ready, getting my game sharp”.

Although the ruptured ligament “is basically just scar tissue now” he believes strengthening exercises can maintain the integrity of the joint for the rest of his career.

“I think that’s what you guys want to see more than us”, Spieth said regarding playing against McIlroy. “I’ve taken that onto the course in practice rounds and from there, it’s being able to take it into tournament play with a card in my hand”. “Especially when you do it (miss the cut) a couple of times at an event”. ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi asked him.

“Expectation levels are the same”, McIlroy told a packed interview room in the media center at Whistling Straits on Wednesday on the eve of the year’s final major. “OK, we’ve got the rankings there, but it’s all a matter of opinion”.