Jordan Spieth has all but conceded that his pursuit of the career Grand Slam will have to wait until next year.
So he's approaching the final two rounds of the PGA Championship like he has nothing to lose.
Spieth shot a two-over 73 on Friday to be thre-over for the tournament but 11 strokes behind the co-leaders when the second round was suspended due to darkness, with 25 players still on the course.
"I kind of accept the fact that I'm essentially out of this tournament, pending some form of crazy stuff the next couple of days," Spieth said.
"But I'm sure going to give it a try."
Closer to the projected cut line of five-over than to co-leaders Kevin Kisner and Hideki Matsuyama, Spieth joked that it would take a round of "probably 54" to get back in it before adding that he just wants to score "as low as I can go."
Three weeks after a late surge helped him win the British Open and claim the third leg of the career Grand Slam, the 24-year-old was trying to become the youngest player to have won all four major championships.
After ending the first round five strokes off the lead, Spieth acknowledged he needed to close the gap during round two to give himself a chance.
Instead, it more than doubled.
"Things were in just such tough locations that it was hard to get the ball to feed to the hole," Spieth said.
"So it's a tough track where they're putting these flagsticks. It makes it tough to score. ... Just really didn't get many looks today, so with one birdie, it's going to be hard to post a solid round."
One of the main subplots this week at Quail Hollow is Spieth's chase to become the sixth player with a career Grand Slam.
Unless he comes up with a colossal rally, Tiger Woods will remain the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy is also all but out of contention, 10 strokes off the lead after being on the harder side of the draw, late on Thursday and early Friday, before the rain.
"I feel like I'm still right there in the tournament," he said, speaking before Hideki Matsuyama had carded 64 to join Kevin Kisner in the lead at eight-under.
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