By Joel Beall
Jordan Spieth is playing in the penultimate group Saturday at the Genesis Invitational with Justin Thomas behind him in the final threesome of Round 3. Making it much easier for Spieth and caddie Michael Greller to continue their running Riviera prank on Thomas.

The venerable course at the Pacific Palisades was the host of the 2012 NCAA Championship, with the final match pitting the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns, highlighted by a duel between Spieth and Thomas. Texas ultimately won the match with Spieth defeating Thomas 3 & 2, which included Spieth holing out from the 15th fairway to put a punctuation on the proceedings.

Ten years have passed since that shot, but Greller makes it an annual tradition to make sure the moment stays fresh with Thomas.

“Michael FaceTimes [Thomas] every single time on the 15th hole and he stops answering now. He asked when we were walking up 15 if he should FaceTime him now even though he was two groups behind us,” Spieth said earlier in this week. “Justin answered it for a few years and now he just either answers it flipping him off or he doesn’t answer it at all.”

Following a Friday 64 that put him in third place after 36 holes, Thomas corroborated the story.

“I’ve stopped answering,” Thomas said, “though because I know when it’s here and he FaceTimes me, he’s on 15. But now he FaceTimed Bones and then he got me that way. He’s sneaky.”

So, should you see Greller turn around and wave back to the tee on the 15th hole on Saturday afternoon, you’ll know why.

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By Dave Shedloski
“What’s wrong with Jordan Spieth?” is a question that has been posed plenty of times before. We’ve simply inserted a new name into the query.

There were two significant interludes of “What’s wrong with Jack Nicklaus?” in the career of golf’s greatest major championship player. And before that, the golfing cognoscenti were wondering, “What’s wrong with Arnold Palmer?” And then there was, “What’s wrong with Tom Watson or Greg Norman … or Tiger Woods?”

No one is immune from the game’s ebbs and flows, though sometimes it’s difficult to figure where one starts and the other stops. Or as the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus wrote, “The way upward and the way downward is one and the same.” And to think, Heraclitus, born in 535 BC, who came to be known as “the weeping philosopher” because of his melancholy disposition, never picked up a golf club.

In the case of Spieth, his career seemed to flow naturally from the moment he won the 2013 John Deere Classic to become, at 19, the fourth-youngest winner in PGA Tour history. From there he assembled a player-of-the-year season, winning the first two majors of 2015 and five times overall to rocket to world No. 1, and though he collapsed at the 2016 Masters, it appeared that he put that experience to use in his gut-check victory in the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

But Spieth, 25, is winless since that miraculous self-reviving effort to claim the claret jug. The flow has, well, ebbed. Not only did he not win last year, but he failed to reach the Tour Championship, missing by one spot the event reserved for the top 30 players in the season-long FedEx Cup standings. He slipped to No. 17 in the world.

What’s wrong with Jordan Spieth? Not much. But just enough to send him asking the same exact question that he knows a lot of others are asking.

“The thing for us,” Spieth began, “is not to get caught up in today’s news. It’s easy to sometimes when you’re not used to it. I haven’t seen, read, or heard anything on it. I learned that lesson already because I know what’s wrong with Jordan Spieth, and I know what’s right with Jordan Spieth.

“I know how to get where I want to go with my golf game and have fun doing it. … I don’t really know what anyone has said other than something is wrong. I know my results aren’t the same, and I know I’m not playing as well. Clearly, I already know that.”

What hadn’t been clear is what he should do about it. A slump of some nature isn’t just about doing things poorly; it’s also about the path you choose to resume doing things well. As he prepares for the Sony Open in Hawaii, Spieth is unsure of his prospects for winning again in the near term but is certain he is back on track after searching in vain last year.

Having failed to qualify for the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui, another huge disappointment, Spieth eyed the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines for his 2019 debut. But after confidence-building practice sessions after Christmas, he couldn’t subdue the urge to start earlier. He has no expectations, except “to knock off some rust and gather some information about where I’m at.”

And just where is he now?

“Honestly not sure,” said the native Texan, who will play his first event since he married his high school sweetheart, Annie Verret, in November. “Like I have lesser amount of certainty of that than I’ve had in a while. It doesn’t bother me right now. I don’t feel anxious, like I have to do anything. I feel pretty patient with what’s coming because I know I’m working on the right things. Took me a while to figure out what that was. Now I know I’m working on the right things in the game to get back on track and get to where I’m as consistent as I’ve been before.”

But it wasn’t just that Spieth was consistent. He was, at times, spectacular, of which he even showed glimpses last year when he caused the tall pines at Augusta National to quake from the cheers for his brilliant closing 64. That 2015 campaign, when he was the youngest since Bobby Jones to win consecutive majors, set him up for difficult encores.

“It was such an unbelievable year,” said Steve Stricker, who partnered with the youngster in the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, after Fred Couples made Spieth a wild-card pick. “The unfortunate thing is he had that so early in his career and we hold him to that high standard. I think that is a little bit unfair.”

“Form comes and goes. It’s a long career,” said former world No. 1 Adam Scott of Australia. “You know, everyone’s and your own expectations can be very high. When you look at a guy playing well you wonder how he’ll ever play poorly again. The biggest thing is to not get in your own way so much. I was guilty of that over the past 18 months because frustration gets in your way.

“If you put some perspective on it, ranking 50th in the world, it’s not completely terrible. I still think being the ranked 50th ranked player I can win a tournament any week with my experience and the potential of my game. I just need to sort it out, get myself in a good mindset going on the course. I think that’s as important as some of the technical stuff. Just got to give yourself a break sometimes.”

Adding further perspective, Scott suggested that a slight drop in performance can cause a disproportionate falloff in results simply because the competition is too good to not take advantage. A run of Tiger-like dominance doesn’t seem possible.

“Tiger has set the mark to a point that is unrealistic almost for anybody else,” said Scott, the 2013 Masters champion. “And with where the game is right now, I just don’t see the separation in players the way Tiger separated himself from everyone for 10 years.”

Spieth has a terrific all-around game, but nothing spectacular save for one area. He could separate himself from the competition with his putting. He was uncanny from any distance, particularly long range. In 2015, he ranked ninth in strokes gained-putting; in other words, his success didn’t derive solely from his work on the greens, but it sure was integral to it.

Last year in the same category he ranked 123rd, a drop of nearly 100 spots from 39th in 2017 and a precipitous fall from ranking second in 2016. His ability to clean up close to the hole was especially shaky as he fell from seventh to 181st on three-footers.

“I’ve had the reputation of being the best putter in the world, and I want to get back to that,” said Spieth, well aware of the shortcoming. “I just have to clear up the visuals and go do it.”

Which means clearing his head, shaking off all of the bad feelings from a year in which he had a chance to win two majors but in the end got nothing out of it, not even a Ryder Cup victory. But he knew a season like 2018 was possible. Smart young man. He does understand the game.

“I think whether you’re tricking yourself or – and that’s part of the gig – I was certainly frustrated with last season results-wise compared to previous seasons,” he began. “It was also something I kind of embraced as an inevitable at some point in the career.”

But now he understands that there was much he didn’t understand.

“I almost took ignorance as bliss in a lot of parts of my game. I did things well, but I didn’t know why. I just did them. Then they got off, and so I had to figure out why I did them well and how to train it back. Ultimately that should help me going forward … if I get off, not be as off or be able to click it back on quicker to stay as consistent as possible. When I started to kind of embrace the fact that it was bound to happen at some point in the career and maybe this is it, then make that be the only time I get that far off and grind it back. Then you have your checkpoints that can’t get off again.

“I think we’ve established them,” Spieth added before a note of caution. “Again, just not quite back yet. It will require some reps. I want to trust. Out here just trying to trust what I’m working on and not bail on swing feels and go to what’s easy. Instead, power through it and wait for it to come around.”

What would a successful 2019 look like to a player who already has 11 career wins without any in the last 17 months? The answer is obvious but also layered. He mentions that he had a chance on Sunday to win the Masters and the Open Championship, the latter where he failed to make a birdie in the final round after holding a share of the 54-hole lead.

“Ideally, you’d have that chance every year,” he noted. “[But] it’s not fun to see other people winning.”

Indeed, chances can only heighten frustration. Somewhere, somehow, a player has to take advantage, convert when getting close. Ask Rory McIlroy, who let another winning opportunity – seven and counting in the last year – slip by at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, how fulfilling chances are in and of themselves.

“I would love to get back in the winner’s circle. Been itching,” Spieth admitted. “I know in golf you can play the best and still not win that week, and you can also be a little off and somehow win. I’ve been on both sides of that. Ultimately, just comes down to being as consistent with my game as I can to continue to work my way into the top 10 by Sunday, and then it’ll start to fall. So, it’s not trying to win a tournament. It’s more an overall consistency of the game.

“When you don’t know what’s off, that’s an uneasy feeling. But when you know and you’re working the right way, then I don’t feel the pressure to make it happen right away.”

So, what’s wrong with Jordan Spieth? Perhaps only the thought that we’ve ever had to ask the question in the first place.

The post Jordan Spieth knows ‘what’s wrong with Jordan Spieth and what’s right with Jordan Spieth’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Luckily, Masters.com coverage of Amen Corner picked it up, though, and while we aren’t allowed to show you that video, we have transcribed the conversation that lasted about 90 seconds (Yes, that’s a bit long to take on a shot, but Shh… It’s the final round of THE MASTERS!) before Spieth hit a spectacular shot to set up an eagle attempt from about eight feet. Here’s the back-and-forth between player and caddie that led to one of the tournament’s most memorable moments:

GRELLER: You got, 211, 230, adjusted.

SPIETH: It’s a 4-iron, right? Stock 4-iron? What’s it to fly (inaudible)? I could hit hybrid as well and play a fade. What’s the wind doing?

[divider] [/divider]

[divider] [/divider]

GRELLER: East-Northeast off the right. . . . I like the hybrid more than that.

SPIETH: It’s 230 hole?

GRELLER: Yeah.

SPIETH: How do you feel?

GRELLER: I see it fits the the shape of the hole better, it gives you more margin or room. You know? I feel like a 4-iron is perfect. But if it gets right at all. . .

SPIETH: The lie’s OK, I kind of have to hit it a groove low.

GRELLER: OK.

SPIETH: But I still like this. If I hit it long left, it’s still not bad, you know?

GRELLER: No, I agree. What’s your start line?

SPIETH: I’m at the middle of the green bunker. You said it’s off the right a little?

GRELLER: Yeah, I just don’t feel much right here.

SPIETH: Yeah, I know. But it’s not off the left. It’s no wind.

GRELLER: Correct, yeah. Look at your target.

It’s a good thing Spieth took the extra club as his shot barely cleared Rae’s creek before bounding up by the hole. Spieth wasn’t able to convert the eagle chance, but the tap-in birdie was part of his spectacular final-round 64 that nearly produced one of golf’s all-time greatest comebacks. And the scene was yet another reminder of why Spieth and Greller are one of the best — and most entertaining — tandems on tour.

[divider] [/divider]

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The post Masters 2018: You probably missed this epic Jordan Spieth-Michael Greller conversation that nearly led to a green jacket appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“I kind of thought if we had a car maybe drive as far away from town as possible,” he said. “We were inside away from the windows trying to gather information.”

His caddie, Michael Greller, gathered his wife and their three-month-old and thought about doing the same.

Charles Howell III called a friend in the Navy based in the region and the friend told him they were scrambling as well. A few minutes later the friend messaged back saying it was a false alarm.

“At breakfast you could hear the collective [buzz] of [everyone’s] phones,” Howell said. “I kind of froze. We didn’t know what to do. We sort of looked at one another. Part of you thinks you grab a MaiTai, go to the beach and grab a front-row seat. Part of you thinks what are you going to do?”

That was the consensus among most players. No one quite sure what to do.

Matt Every was having breakfast in downtown Honolulu and headed across the street to a golf course, figuring the opening space would be the safest place to be.

Chez Reavie looked out the window of his hotel and saw people running down the street but stayed put with the rationalization that there was nowhere to go.

It took 38 minutes before another alert was issued saying it was a false alarm.

Tony Finau was playing with his kids on his bed when his phone buzzed. He thought it was an Amber alert.

“I popped up and the whole mood changed,” he said. “It was a blessed day. It put in perspective what could happen. Golf was the last thing on most people’s mind when we’re looking at a situation like that.”

Later in the afternoon, he went on to make a hole-in-one, on the par-3 17th. It was the 11th of his life and first on the PGA Tour.

Said Finau: “The roller coaster of emotions was pretty crazy.”

The PGA Tour issued this statement: “In less than four minutes from the initial call from tour staff in Hawaii, we were able to verify that the alert was a mistake and communicate that information to tour leadership and players/staff in Hawaii. Although the incident was understandably upsetting to all involved, we have confirmed there were no injuries to our staff or players, or any further issues of concern.”

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RELATED: How Michael Greller helped Jordan Spieth more than you know

On Tuesday, Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, joined SXM PGA Tour Radio to talk about the big win and describe that crazy scene. Greller says he was amazed by how calm things were for the duo considering the situation. Well, once Spieth’s golf ball was found, that is. It’s hard to be calm when you’re looking for a needle in a haystack filled with fans.

RELATED: ‘This is as much of a high as I’ve experienced in my life”

“I was forearm shivering guys in the crowd there initially in the fescue,” Greller said. “I mean, there were 500 people, we can’t find the ball and I’m thinking someone could grab it. It was just absolute chaos and then out of right-field you hear someone yell there’s a ball on the other side of the dune. And Jordan goes bouncing up there like a billy goat and I went back to the fairway because I didn’t think it was a ball, I thought there was no chance he was over there.”

But it was there. And although there was still plenty of drama to play out — Spieth went 21 minutes in between hitting shots — the 23-year-old was in control despite most golf fans wondering what the heck was going on as he took a tour of the equipment trucks parked on the range.

“From that moment, when he found that ball, I don’t think people can appreciate his being in the situation and for him to have the thought process to think is that range in play or out of play. You would assume it’s just out of bounds. He asked the question and found out it was in play so he knew he could go as far back as he wanted by taking an unplayable.”

Greller says the reason it took so long was that it was a tricky ruling, and had little to do with them figuring out their line or distance for the next shot.

“While he was doing that, it gave me the time to work my sixth grade math numbers and A squared plus B squared equals C squared, because it was 125 yards off from where Kuchar was,” said Greller, a former sixth-grade math teacher.

Of course, after taking his penalty and his drop, Spieth hit his third shot back in play and got up and down for a bogey. He then played the next four holes in five under to claim his first claret jug.

“The cool part about it . . . was how slowly everything moved from a mental standpoint,” Greller said. “There wasn’t a sense of panic, it’s over.”

Have a listen to the clip:

.@JordanSpieth's caddy Michael Greller gives you a first hand account of what was going through the Texan's mind on the 13th hole @TheOpen pic.twitter.com/uNefivIaUq

— SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) July 25, 2017

The post Hear Jordan Spieth’s caddie describe the ‘absolute chaos’ of that crazy 13th hole at The Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

As you might have heard, Jordan Spieth won the claret jug at Royal Birkdale with a furious finish. But, while Spieth’s birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie run is the thing of Greek myth, the 23-year-old’s adventures on the 13th hole remain the hot topic by the water cooler.

In case you need a rundown on Spieth’s Southport survey, we recommend clicking here for the extended rundown. Thanks to our friends at the European Tour, we have another piece to the 13th’s puzzle: Michael Greller’s caddie notes.

As loopers are prone to do, Greller kept a log of Spieth’s shots throughout the round, marking the distances and ensuing results. Bookkeeping that bestowed this gem, regarding Spieth’s third shot from the driving range:

“Practice range shot: No number. We guessed 240 yards.” Spieth’s caddie’s notes ? #TheOpen

A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour) on Jul 24, 2017 at 11:02am PDT

For our money, it’s almost as cool as Spieth’s “Go get that.” Though that’s sure to draw its share of opponents, we can all agree Greller’s footnote is the best use of an asterisk in the annals of the English language.

The post These Open Championship notes from Jordan Spieth’s caddie are a sight to behold appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

After the clutch comeback that followed his great bogey escape from the giant dunes in the (very) rough proximity of Royal Birkdale’s 13th fairway, via the bonce of an unsuspecting spectator and a lengthy detour through the club-manufacturers’ lorries parked on the surprisingly in-bounds practice range, Spieth allowed us to go orienteering through his mind. It was a frank and fascinating insight into the psyche of a complex 23-year-old on the precipice of true greatness, as compelling as his golf had been other worldly over the final six holes.

There is vulnerability within, as witnessed early on the final afternoon of the 146th Open Championship when Spieth inexplicably allowed a three shot overnight lead to vanish within four holes in a blaze of yanked drives and pushed or pulled putts. Neither is he immune to genuine anxiety as was so visibly apparent on 13 as he reeled away, hands in head, at the horror of a big blocked tee shot he’d just sent sailing a good 70 yards off line.

Later came a snapshot of the ambition, expectation and ego that allowed the Texan to somehow regroup from a disastrous opening 12 holes and that tee shot to become the youngest Champion Golfer-of-the-Year since Seve Ballesteros in 1979, and the first man to post all four rounds in the 60s at Birkdale (65-69-65-69) for a record -12, 268 aggregate (eclipsing Ian Baker-Finch’s 272 total in 1991).

Very rarely do professional golfers, much less a (now) three-time major champion with a tough-as-old cowboy boots “closer” reputation to protect, allow access into the deeper recesses.

“I thought before the round, I have a reputation as being able to close, but I was hesitant in saying ‘majors’, to myself, because there was a lot of…I put a lot of pressure on myself unfortunately, and not on purpose, before the round today, just thinking this is the best opportunity that I’ve had since the 2016 Masters,” Spieth revealed, rewinding minds to Augusta National two Aprils ago where a watery quadruple bogey 7 at Rae’s Creek got in the way of a second Green Jacket and first exposed the fallibility within every golfer.

“And if it weren’t to go my way today, then all I’m going to be questioned about and thought about and murmured about is in comparison to that, and that adds a lot of pressure.”

The inexplicable start, his trusty Scotty Cameron blade suddenly failing him from short range, didn’t help any. “After four holes it was even more so. I wasn’t questioning myself as a closer, but I was questioning why I couldn’t just perform the shots that I was before.

“Sometimes you just can’t really figure it out, put your finger on it. Am I pulling it? Pushing it? Am I doing both? What’s going on with the [putting] stroke? It’s just searching. And during the round today I definitely thought while any kind of fear or advantage that you can have in this moment and over other individuals [longer term], not just Matt Kuchar today, but other people that are watching, that’s being taken away by the way that I’m playing right now. And that was really tough to swallow.

“That kind of stuff goes into your head. I mean, we walked for two minutes, three minutes in between shots. And you can’t just go blank. You wish you could, but thoughts creep in.”

It’s fair to surmise Kuchar and co. now know Spieth can bring the fear from anywhere and at anytime.

Kuchar brought far more than his trademark awe-shucks demeanour to the the wholly unexpected final round duel (given the control Spieth had displayed from tee to green through 54 holes) and  stood on the 14th tee with a one shot lead. By the time he departed the 17th green, having negotiated the four hole stretch in two under himself, he was two behind.

Spieth’s birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie “burst” in the same stretch of holes was the stuff of Open legend, golf theatre that even Golf Digest’s learnered Jaime Diaz, a man whose seen his share of major magic, rates beyond modern compare.

The near ace on 14 from 201 yards, the unfathomable 48-foot eagle putt up and down dale and up again on 15 with its “pick that up” exclamation mark/command to bagman Michael Greller. The 30-foot, dead-weight birdie bomb on 16 and the skipped wedge-eight footer on 17 for another gain that ensured he could savour the greatest walk in golf up 18.

“It was impressive stuff and when someone does something like that, you just have to tip your cap and say well done,” Kuchar, so magnanimous in defeat, would say.

Before the lazered 6 iron on 14 came the great escape at 13 where Spieth kept a cool head in the chaos and cleverly used The Rules of Golf to his advantage as they have always been intended to be. The chunked-pushed 3-iron that he hit back over the dunes, just shy of 22 minutes after he took the unplayable, was a smart play as it kept him short of a pot bunker guarding the front of the green. The resulting up and down was arguably the defining moment of the championship.

“That [8-foot] putt on 13 was just massive,” Spieth agreed. “I don’t know how I made a five, I don’t think I’ll ever know, it’s like I got away with murder.”

Greller, the canny caddy cum on-course psychologist, didn’t let the moment pass, making a point of telling his charge: “That’s a momentum shift right there.”

Greller’s big play had actually come on the path leading from the 7th tee when he called Spieth back as the Open was rapidly and dangerously passing the Texan by. Before Birkdale, Spieth had been snapped on vacation in Cabo San Lucas with, among others, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps and [Seattle Seahawks quarterback] Russell Wilson, and Greller used the imagery to quietly refocus his man.

“Michael did a great thing today, he said ‘I’ve got something to say to you: He said do you remember that group you were with? ‘You’re that caliber of an athlete. But I need you to believe that right now because you’re in a great position in this tournament. This is a new tournament. We’re starting over here’.

“He had as much influence for sure on this win as any. He and Cameron [manager Cameron McCormick] have been very important in the mental side of the game for me in the past couple of years. Dealing with my own expectations and dealing with coming off a year like ’15 [when he won the Masters and US Open and gave the calendar year grand slam a run with a T4 finish at St.Andrews and second at the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits], and trying to game plan and set goals.

“This trophy is as much mine as it is his [Greller’s and presumably McCormick], as I was getting down on myself a bit for a while there.”

The firm pep talk, the clever use of the rules and flushed six 6-iron flicked a switch. Spieth somehow did what great players do in adversity. He found just three fairways on Sunday, and yet he found a way to win. It was brave, gritty, glorious.

Indeed, it was Tiger-esque. Spieth too has that innate ability to will the ball into the cup (often without toughing the sides) where others find an invisible force-field with the flat-stick.

A week from his 24th birthday, Spieth joined Jack Nicklaus as the only player to have won three quarters of a career grand slam before 24. Even Woods couldn’t achieve that feat until 24 years and six months old.

Spieth admitted the career slam, which could be achieved as early as The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow little over a fortnight away in Charlotte, North Carolina, is “a life goal of mine” but isn’t comfortable with the inevitable comparisons with Nicklaus and Woods.

“I feel blessed to be able to play the game I love, but I don’t think that comparisons are — I don’t compare myself. I don’t think that they’re appropriate or necessary,” he said.

“So to be in that company, no doubt is absolutely incredible. And I certainly appreciate it. But I’m very careful as to what that means going forward because what those guys have done has transcended the sport. And in no way, shape or form do I think I’m anywhere near that, whatsoever. So it’s a good start, but there is a long way to go.”

The 146th Open Championship will be etched as the ‘how low can you go’ Open, Branden Grace leading the historically low scoring with the first 62 in the 157 year history of majors. Spieth, up to No.2 in the OWGR, has played just 19 of the 442 majors and has already won three of them, the most recent as only the sixth player to go wire-to-wire. He has enjoyed the lead or the share of it in 14 bigs since 2015, is a combined 67 under par in 45 rounds and tops the rounds in the 60s, rounds of par or better and scoring average categories, the latter a figure now southward of 69.

Just like that moment on the 7th Sunday, he is looking forward to pulling on the reigns to take stock and will get the chance with a fishing trip planned with his father and brother before he plays the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio from August 3-6 ahead of the PGA.

“Growing up playing golf, I just wanted to be able to play in major championships and compete with the best in the world, and things have happened very quickly. And it’s good and bad, because a lot comes with it, a lot more attention… versus just being able to kind of go about your own thing. And I never realised how underrated that was.

“I wanted to be in this position but then, you know, here and there, it becomes harder when it doesn’t go your way. And you’re harder on yourself because you expect so much.

“Therefore, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this. I look back on 2015 and thought, yeah, I enjoyed it, but I never realised the significance until you kind of hit a low, hit a pitfall, to appreciate the high so much.

“And this is as much of a high as I’ve ever experienced in my golfing life. And I’m going to enjoy it more than I’ve enjoyed anything that I’ve accomplished in the past.”

He wasn’t the only one.

Catch up with the highlights of an enthralling Final Round of The 146th Open. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/ExeMn2KvTv

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2017

#TheOpen Shots of the week. So many to choose from! What was your favourite? pic.twitter.com/RwmblgBLEe

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 24, 2017

The post The Open 2017: ‘This is as much of a high as I’ve ever experienced in my golfing life’

 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers

Jordan Spieth was in big, big trouble on the 13th hole on Sunday. Well, somewhere near the 13th hole. After hitting the worst tee shot of his life, taking a tour of some equipment trucks, and finally — and we don’t say “finally” lightly — taking a drop on Royal Birkdale’s driving range, Spieth faced a long, blind recovery shot. But there was another problem: he had no clue how far he was from the hole.

Enter Michael Greller.

“We took our time getting the line, getting the number,” Spieth’s caddie said of the odd situation that took 21 minutes to unfold. “He thought it was about 270, I thought it was 230, so that was alarming.”

Of course, you know the rest. Spieth put his third shot (he took a one-shot unplayable lie penalty) up near the green and then got up and down for an unlikely five. He then went five under over the final five holes to claim the claret jug. So how did Greller grade the bogey?

“That’s the greatest by a mile,” Greller said. “I hope I never see one that great again, because that was stressful.”

Long after the madness had subsided, Spieth gave his thoughts on that crucial calculation that kept him in alive in the tournament.

“Typically I would — if you asked me who has the better yardage, myself or Michael in a lot of situations, when we’re on a crazy angle, I’d pick myself. And on that one he seemed very confident,” Spieth said. “He was very adamant about what club to hit, and it gave me the confidence to hit it, because sometimes when that happens I’ll still go with what I think. But he was right on.”

It wasn’t the only time Greller helped his boss out during his rollercoaster round as he was constantly there to instill confidence. He demanded Spieth “Get over it” after an opening bogey, he refused to take Spieth’s club back on No. 5 until the player gave him a fist bump, and on No. 7, he reminded Spieth of a recent trip on which he hung out with a crew of sports legends that included Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps.

“Michael did a great thing today, he said, ‘Do you remember that group you were with in Cabo last week,’ in a picture that I posted. He goes, ‘You belong in that group.’”

And Spieth, who famously refers to rounds of golf as how “we” played, reminded everyone of Greller’s greatness as a caddie, both in his post-round interviews and during his victory speech. Minutes after that wrapped up, he saw his caddie and said, “Hey, Mike, here you go.” Then Spieth handed over golf’s oldest trophy to a grinning Greller.

They had won it together.

The post The Open 2017: Michael Greller helped Jordan Spieth more than you know on Sunday appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.