Jordan Spieth's use of collective rather than individual terminology when analysing his success is endearing. The 22-year-old's delight was therefore understandable when Michael Greller was presented with the Caddie of the Year award in Shanghai by his peers.
Greller’s own tale is as noteworthy as that of Spieth. He was a high school maths teacher before being picked up by an emerging golfer who has just earned $22 million (€20.5 million) in a single season and won back-to-back Major championships in the middle of it.
Yesterday, Greller did not so much decline an opportunity to speak about his personal recognition as watch on as a member of Spieth’s management team did it for him. For all that it was disappointing, Spieth filled the gap.
“I kind of figured the award was coming,” said Spieth, who was in attendance for the presentation. “I trust Michael as the best in the world and he trusts me. That’s what has made our partnership so great over the last few years. It certainly worked this year; it was well deserved and it was cool to see him up on stage there.
Right time
“We understand each other well. It is really more him understanding me, knowing when is the right time to step in and say something, knowing when is the right time to back off, knowing how to judge the wind, knowing what shots I’m thinking about playing. We have had a lot of rounds under our belt now and we get better and better each week, I think.”
Greller’s unconventional route to the top has afforded him extra respect among caddies. “It was obvious when we started that he didn’t come from a golfing background,” said Spieth with a smile. “It was a bit of an adjustment through the Web.com Tour and early on the PGA Tour season. We were just riding momentum at the right time.
“He has found a group of guys he really gets along with and they work really, really hard at what they do. I wasn’t planning on bringing him out of teaching, just give him four months and send him back. I planned on us having success. Obviously things have progressed quicker than we could have imagined.”
Spieth shot a second-round 70 here at the WGC-HSBC Champions for a four-under total, 10 off the lead, after which he admitted to a “lazy” approach which he could not explain. Kevin Kisner is the man to catch at halfway, with Scotland’s Russell Knox second at minus 12.
Rory McIlroy could only manage level par to remain at four under. “It was a bit of a disappointing day,” he said. “I was a bit flat out there.”
Caddies have rather been the topic of the week. The publication of Steve Williams' book has focused attention on his time working for Tiger Woods as Williams, now part-time bagman for Adam Scott, claimed he felt like a "slave" at times during his Woods era. Scott this week said that he had not read the book and laughed off suggestions that Williams might write a sequel.
“I would rather not give him a reason to?” said Spieth on the idea of a book by Greller. “If he did, I hope it would be good. But honestly, we’d have to have a lot of success for that to even be a possibility.”
Williams, meanwhile, has told the Australian media that he has taken umbrage with those who produced the tome.
“The response is predictable. It’s a bit disappointing that the publishers chose that one piece of the book. I don’t agree it should have been used. That [slave] is one word, one sentence, out of a whole book,” he said. Guardian Service
