Jordan Spieth charges back to the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard

Jordan Spieth is back near the lead at a 2015 major championship. There have been exactly zero people in the history of golf to win the Masters, U.S. Open, and PGA Championship in the same year. Jordan Spieth will go to the weekend with yet another chance at history and in perfect position to take the "American Slam."

Spieth is obviously the hottest player in the world, and despite the rankings right now, the best player in the world. It's been that way since last December, when this remarkable run started in Australia. But still, to see him so close at St. Andrews to keeping a Grand Slam alive, and now back at the top of the board again at the season's final major is astonishing. It's starting to become clear that the Masters-US Open double was not just a hot run from an incredible world-class talent, but may be the standard for Spieth going forward.

Spieth's PGA Championship started as a slog. He made par on his first 10 holes, missing some birdie chances in what were clearly the tougher scoring conditions of the first day. But the round gained some momentum when he chipped in for birdie at the 12th hole. That salvaged a round in the red when he was playing in tough conditions and with something around his C+ game.

Well, Spieth came back Friday morning in the easier conditions and made his move again thanks to a hole-out from off the green. This one came from much more challenging circumstances on the course's most difficult hole. At the 18th (he started at No. 10), Spieth lofted a shot from a greenside bunker and got the ball to nestle right into the cup.

Jordan Spieth might hole more bunker shots than any player on TOUR. http://t.co/3nPvjePf50

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 14, 2015

Par there was a good score -- Spieth was the only one to birdie it at the time -- so this was a huge steal for him. His playing partner, Rory McIlroy, made a double bogey for a three-shot swing among the top two players in the world.

The hole-out ignited a back nine that pushed Spieth all the way to the top of the leaderboard by the time he left the course. It was part of a stretch of five birdies in nine holes that put him at 6-under by the end of the day. That was the mark Dustin Johnson, who has yet to play, set on Thursday night. McIlroy, thanks in large part to his own hole-out for eagle, posted another 1-under 71 and is still in the mix in his first start in more than 50 days.

The leading number will likely move higher in the afternoon, but Spieth is right there again at a major championship with a shot at history.

Here's the top of the board midway through the second round:

★★★

SB Nation video archives: Urban golfing with a U.S. Open champion (2012)