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MICHAEL GRELLER, THE caddie who carried Jordan Spieth’s bag in his historic performance at the 2015 Masters, is 16 years older than his boss but even less experienced.
Greller caddied for the first time in 2006, according to Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal, when he was watching U. Amateur Public Links Championship as a spectator and decided to hop across the ropes and caddie for a kid who was carrying his own bags.
He kept at it as something of a hobby, and in 2011 he found himself carrying Spieth’s bag in the US Junior Amateur. When Spieth turned pro in 2013, he asked Greller to leave his real job and work for him.
Greller’s job at the time? A sixth grade maths and science teacher at Narrows View Intermediate School in Washington.
Greller told Jason Sobel of the Golf Channel in 2013 that he initially intended to take a one-year sabbatical from school. But while watching the 2013 Masters, he decided that he didn’t want to give up an opportunity to help Spieth win a green jacket one day.
Greller says he sees his job as more of a personality manager than a golf expert.
While we don’t know the exact details of Greller’s contract with Spieth, it’s fair to say he’s making more now than he could have teaching.
According to Golf Digest’s Undercover Pro, caddies on the modern PGA Tour typically get paid a base salary for $1,300-$1,800 per week with additional results-based bonuses.
Traditionally, that bonus structure is 5/7/10 (5% of winnings for a made cut, 7% of winnings for a top-10 finish, and 10% of winnings for a tournament win).
In the last 30 days, Spieth has two second-place finishes and two wins, including the Masters (a $1.8 million prize), for a total of $4.1 million in winnings. Under the traditional rates, Greller stands to have made $375,000 in performance bonuses alone during that period.
Not too shabby for a guy who went to the Masters as a fan three years ago.
