Needing to win the PGA Championship to complete the career slam, Spieth started the final round eight strokes off the pace, without a realistic chance of victory.
The Texan nevertheless battled on nicely, shooting a four-under-par 66 that mixed in six birdies with a double-bogey at Bellerive Country Club.
But one bad hole on Saturday, a triple-bogey at the 12th had effectively ended his hopes, leaving him to lament on what might have been.
"Each day got a little bit better here. Minus a couple of tee shots, I had a chance to win this thing with what felt like not my A-game," Spieth said after finishing at eight-under 272.
"The putting was phenomenal. I was probably top-five in putting for the week, which is great. It's been a long time since I've been there.
"From really seven-iron down, it was phenomenal. And then the long irons and woods were still just a little bit off, and I had a couple foul balls because of it with an iron and a driver.
"So it was just really, really close to being precise enough to win this week."
This was Spieth's second chance to complete the grand slam, following his 2017 British Open victory which followed previous successes at the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open.
Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen have won the four championships that comprise the modern grand slam.
Spieth will have to wait only nine months to get another crack at the slam, because the PGA Championship moves to May next year.
(Reporting by Andrew Both, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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