“Two years ago I was on the couch watching The Masters and Ellie asked me, ‘What if Jordan or Justin (Thomas) wins the Masters in five or 10 years and you’re still here watching on the couch? Would you regret not chasing that opportunity?’
“She’s been so supportive,” Greller adds. “She calls herself the caddy’s caddy. I loved being outside and I loved being around golf. And she was right, I didn’t want to second-guess myself. So when I had a chance to explore it for a year like I did last year, I figured I had nothing to lose. I never thought we would get more than a few starts on the PGA Tour. I figured we’d play on the Web.”
In 2013, Spieth had no status on any major tour, but he had two top-10 finishes on the Web.com Tour and earned a sponsor’s exemption into the Puerto Rico Open. He finished second there and began his dizzying climb. This season, after the U.S. Open, where he finished tied for 17th, he was in sixth place in the FedEx Cup standings. His goals coming into this year were to be competitive in the majors and make the Ryder Cup team. So far, after finishing second in this year’s Masters, he remains on track to reach all of those goals.
“It’s all been coming at me so fast, I really haven’t had time to step back and reflect on it,” Greller, 37, said just days before the start of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. “That’s probably a good thing. I can’t really let myself really step out of it, at least at this point. I don’t have an appreciation yet for what’s been happening in the last year. I think I’d get pretty overwhelmed if I did think about it too much.
“I’ve had to adjust to a new normal, but I still try to normalize this as much as I can,” he continues. “Caddy-wise, I’ve tried to surround myself with guys who have the same mindset and thinking in everything, not just golf, as I do. Guys who value the same things as I do. That’s really helped.”
One of his best friends on Tour is Ted Scott, caddy for two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson.
“I’ve talked with him a lot about how you approach this job,” Greller says. “Not so much from an Xs and Os standpoint, but more off-the-course stuff. There really was no preparation for me when I took this job. I was pretty much trying to figure all of that out on my own. And right now I think I’m in a much better spot than I was a year-and-a-half ago.”