Jordan Spieth admits the career Grand Slam is a goal

Jordan Spieth has told Sky Sports News HQ that he believes winning a career Grand Slam is the true mark of someone who has "conquered all aspects of golf".

The 21-year-old American is on course to win all four major championships in a calendar year after lifting the Masters and US Open earlier in 2015.

The world No 2 could take another step towards that remarkable achievement with a win at the 144th Open at St Andrews this week.

Spieth, who will overtake Rory McIlroy as golf’s world No 1 should he emerge from the Old Course victorious, outlined his ambitions in an exclusive interview.

"Winning the career Grand Slam someday, whether it could hopefully be this year or 40 years from now, I think that is the true test of somebody who conquered all aspects of golf,” he said.

"You’ve conquered links golf, you’ve conquered the hardest test at the Open, you’ve conquered Augusta National and the PGA Championship which moves around some of the toughest courses in the world, so I think that’s obviously a goal."

Spieth’s remarkable rise has led to comparisons with triple Open winner Tiger Woods, who also won majors early in his career.

And the Texan said he is flattered to have his name mentioned alongside some of the game’s greats.

He said: "Any time you are mentioned in the same sentence as Tiger, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, anything you can do to be in the sentence with those guys means you are doing something right in the sport and I’m just doing what I love.

"I have goals; I have goals I set a long time ago, long term and short term.

"We set new ones each year and we set out to achieve them and that’s all I’m trying to do and when I look back someday, if I’m still in their category years from now, then hopefully I’m making it to the Hall of Fame and whatever else after that then I’ll know I had an impact on a younger generation just like they did on me."

Spieth only arrived at St Andrews on Monday after winning the John Deere Classic in Illinois on the PGA Tour on Sunday, although he did test out the course on a simulator prior to his arrival.

"I have a full swing golf simulator at my house so I was able to bring up St Andrews, the Old Course and play it a couple of times when I had a break a couple of weeks ago which was pretty exciting," he said.

"You can see some of the lines, it is not exactly the same, but it is still a little better than nothing.

"We think of St Andrews as the home of golf, even coming from the States. It is very special, it is a place that they have been playing on for centuries and centuries and it has stood the test of time and can still test us in major championship golf and I think that’s just something that is mind boggling. There is no other place in the world like it.

"It is cool to come over here, I enjoy playing links-style golf, especially open championships. This is my third one, both times it has been one of my favourite tournaments of the year so I really look forward to getting started, getting inside the ropes and get going on Thursday so we can maybe limit a little bit of the noise around the hype this week brings."

Spieth says he will need to adjust his game slightly to cope with the unique demands of the course.

He said: "It’s interesting because if you look at winning scores the past couple of times it was played here it is more under par than most majors and so I think that’s a little bit of an adjustment because you normally go into major championships thinking ‘how do I pick my spots and really watch out for the trouble here and there?’ but knowing that you need to be anywhere from 15 to 20 under par to win that maybe changes your strategy going in.

"It all depends on conditions here but I think that’s what is going to be most different here versus anywhere else and that’s going to be the trickiest part about getting started recognising that you really should take some chances maybe more so than other major championships."