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Michael Greller says he’s never rewatched that final round.

Inevitably, he’s stumbled on snippets here and there. After all, the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay was ground-breaking, controversial, dramatic, cinematic. It was the first-ever Fox broadcast. The first-ever major championship at Chambers, a mind-bending new-school links course carved from a Washington gravel pit. The first-ever U.S. Open in the Pacific Northwest. It was also the greatest moment of Greller’s professional life.

So, yes, he’s seen some scenes. Like, for instance, the footage of him and Jordan Spieth sitting frozen in the scoring trailer as a now-infamous three-putt crowned Spieth a U.S. Open champion.

But despite the layers that made that day so meaningful — the drama of the finish, the generations of friends and family in attendance, the decade-long dream suddenly and improbably fulfilled, the national championship on the same turf that birthed him into golf — he’s never sat down and watched it happen.

After all, how could a recording live up to the real thing?

“I GOT MARRIED RIGHT ABOUT … HERE,” Greller says, walking to a specific cement square and turning to face an imaginary cast of assembled friends and family, motioning to his wife Ellie to walk down the aisle as their kids, Barrett and Greta, look on. Ellie laughs and rolls her eyes.

The jaw-dropping expanse of golf course stretches out behind him. Train tracks border the property to the west, separating the back nine from the Puget Sound, and a string of evergreen islands stretch out in the distance, where the Olympic Mountains loom, their peaks still coated with snow.

It’s a perfect June evening at Chambers Bay, warm and hopeful. By 7 p.m. the sun hasn’t yet considered the horizon. I live an hour away and Greller’s much closer than that, which is how I convinced him to pack his family in the car one Thursday night and come take a walk through time.

“I don’t come out here a lot, but when I do, I get goosebumps,” Greller says, surveying the golfing kingdom below. “There’s not a lot of people who can say the best moments of their personal life and their professional life came at the same place.”

But for Greller it’s true. It was 10 years ago, after all, that Spieth and Greller played one of the wildest finishing stretches in U.S. Open history, riding a rollercoaster of birdies and doubles and pressure-putts against the epic dunescape backdrop. It was 12 years ago that Michael and Ellie got married here, with Spieth and his now-wife Annie skipping a big-time tournament to attend. It was 15 years ago that Michael landed his first big-time caddie gig here, looping for a kid named Justin Thomas in the U.S. Am, the beginning of a friendship that led to an introduction to a wiry kid named Jordan Spieth. And it was 18 years ago, in the summer of 2007, that Chambers Bay opened and a local sixth-grade math teacher named Michael Greller decided to caddie there in the summer to earn some free golf and extra cash.

Ellie corralled the kids to find a milkshake and do some homework. I borrowed Greller and trekked out to the 16th tee, where we traveled forward into an ocean of green … and disappeared into a life-changing 3-hole memory.

We made a video of the adventure, which you can watch below; the written word continues below that.

No. 16

“They were both, let’s see, Jordan would have been 5 under,” Greller says, ticking through a mental leaderboard.

From the first step of our 3-hole jaunt it is clear why Greller never bothered to watch the Fox telecast — he’s encoded the entire memory of that U.S. Open Sunday somewhere into his cerebral cortex. He gazes down the 16th fairway, his favorite hole on property, traces Spieth’s final-round tee shot through the air with his hand and then we’re off, down the fairway, tracking where it came to rest.

“His 3-wood … I think it ended up kind of by this head,” he says, pointing to a sprinkler at the edge of the fairway. “And I remember he had a pretty good lie, because he almost could have gotten a drop but he chose not to.”

It’s not until I watch the corresponding U.S. Open replay that it hits me: Spieth’s ball was not kind of by the sprinkler head. It’s the exact sprinkler head. In June 2025, Greller needed only a few seconds to pinpoint where Spieth’s ball came to rest in June 2015 down to millimeter.

Chambers’ tee sheet is packed from dawn to dusk every day but particularly this time of year; we step aside to let one foursome play up and a ball comes whizzing from well back in the fairway, rolling on a line that bisects the narrow green. It finishes just past the hole as its owner, a second-grader named Lexi, appears looking shy but pleased. Her father asks Greller for a photo, to which he gladly obliges: “I’m Michael. What grade are you in?” Lexi’s father can’t help but gush.

“That was one of the best Opens I’ve ever seen,” he says to Greller. Around here, 10 years feels like yesterday.

“It was the best,” Greller corrects with a chuckle. “I don’t know any better ones.”

Once they clear the green we scurry back out to stare down the 20-footer for birdie that Greller says was the best of Spieth’s career.

“I’ll never forget, he turns and looks out there,” Greller says, pointing out to the Puget Sound. “And the first pump, the reaction was as good as you’ll ever see on a made putt.”

I’ve brought my putter, so he lines me up as best he can, suggests a spot to aim while acknowledging it’s “all feels.” I expect some anxiety, putting in front of arguably the world’s most famous caddie, but I feel calm and focused instead. My stroke feels smooth, the ball turns from left to right and carries plenty of speed — but the line is true and it rolls directly into the middle of the cup.

I’m excited enough that I forget about any Spiethian fist pump halfway through, but Greller’s at least as excited as I am.

“I think I’m meant to be your caddie,” he says, fishing the ball out of the hole and asking for an autograph. “I’m going to tell Jordan about that.”

No. 17

“It had been kind of a boring round, and my guy’s not boring,” Greller says.

For most of Sunday’s round, Spieth’s final round had been uncharacteristically smooth. He’d bogeyed the first hole and made three birdies plus 12 pars since.

Then came a wayward 6-iron off the 17th tee, a shot that settled in the long grass and suddenly made a two-shot lead feel much smaller. What does Greller tell Spieth when he’s just made his worst swing of the day? It depends, Greller says. Much like Spieth’s golf, a lot of Greller’s intuition comes down to feel. Sometimes Spieth needs a distraction. Sometimes encouragement. Sometimes talking makes it worse. And sometimes it’s a matter of responding rather than starting a conversation; Spieth can tend to do a lot of the talking.

“Usually when I’m talking it’s between shots, when the mics aren’t on. The last thing I want to do is be a part of the story,” Greller says, then glances over at our camera, instantly remembering why he was unsure about doing this to begin with. “I don’t like to talk about my story because I’m fortunate just to be riding along with Jordan.”

It’s worth noting that at no point during our hours together does Greller take credit for anything Spieth has done. He takes his job seriously and his prep seriously but handles credit loosely. More than exuberance or pride in his caddying efforts from that Sunday, he still feel the stress of the way the 17th hole finished, with a perfectly good recovery shot followed by a costly three-putt double bogey.

“That very peaceful walk [to 18] goes to, okay, I’ve got to really encourage my guy,” Greller says. “You’ve got to regroup.”

No. 18

I’ll remember that walk up 18 for a long, long time, just seeing its significance through Greller’s eyes. As we made our way off the tee, something caught Greller’s eye mid-sentence: The iconic stone structures that frame the hole’s right side.

“I have wedding pictures, by the way, right there,” he says. “[Chambers Bay] will never be topped for me professionally, this [U.S. Open] week — but also personally. I have memories of my dad on a golf cart with Ellie’s grandma. My parents, Ellie’s dad, grandma, they’ve all passed since then. And when I come back here” — here he halts for a moment, his walk and his sentence, fighting something back — “and it’s just like, man. As cool as the U.S. Open was, that day of my wedding day was that much better. And to do it with those people — I come back here and oh, man. It’s still special.”

This entire evening is in some ways about the passage of time. Greller’s mind goes to Spieth, who was just 21 that special week, who’s now nearly the age that Greller was when they first met. But he’s still the same kid, Greller says. They both are. With a notable exception.

“That’d be the one part of Jordan that has changed, is that off the course he’s not just watching SportsCenter at night,” he says, thinking of Spieth’s kids. “He’s all in on the dad duties.”

There’s a plaque in the ground where his tee shot settled.

June 21, 2015
U.S. Open
Final Round
Jordan Spieth
3 Wood

“It was a perfect 3-wood number, just a stock 3-wood,” Greller says. Spieth advised it the entire length of its flight, but by the time it landed, rolled up, back and around, he was left with a reasonable look at eagle.

In 2015, Greller’s walk was rushed and anxious; he’d raked the fairway bunker for Branden Grace’s caddie and hurried to catch up to Spieth, whose tournament standing was uncertain at best. This time around we give him a moment to walk alone up the sun-soaked fairway, but he’s not alone for long — Barrett and Greta come running down from behind the green, where they’ve been eating Skittles and doing math homework with Ellie.

Greta jumps into her father’s arms to be carried the rest of the way; Barrett takes off for an exploration of the right bunker. Greller remembers the two-putt for birdie and Spieth’s emotional comedown in the moments that followed.

“He comes over to the side of the green and he puts his arm on my shoulder and he thinks he’s actually lost the U.S. Open,” Greller remembers. “Because he sees D.J. [in the fairway], best case he’s hoping for a playoff … when he walked off the green he thought it wasn’t enough.”

They headed to scoring, where Spieth signed his card and wondered what to do. They waited there, watching on a screen.

“We were on about a five-second delay,” Greller remembers. When Johnson’s towering iron approach settled near the hole, they heard the roar before they saw it on TV. When he lined up his eagle putt, the opposite happened: no roar. Just how fast was that fateful putt?

“It was unbelievably fast,” Greller winces. Johnson’s putt kept trickling by, just far enough to give him trouble coming back. Chambers has redone its greens since then; they’re a different grass type and look and roll like a completely different surface. A lot can change in 10 years — to a competitor, to a caddie, to a career, to a course.

“When [Johnson] missed the next putt, Jordan and I just sat there,” Greller remembers. “You don’t really know what to say; you don’t really want to celebrate, Dustin is a very good friend of ours, and [his caddie] A.J., we spend a lot of time with them. We sat there for probably 15, 20 seconds and finally I go, ‘Dude, you just won the U.S. Open.’ We gave each other a hug, walked out, Ellie was just outside scoring and then it was just time to celebrate.”

The win didn’t hit him, Greller says, until hours later. His family and friends had trickled off property — so had nearly everybody else. He and Ellie headed towards the parking lot when they decided to take a detour back out onto 18, where they went and sat on the tee.

“We were talking, and I said ‘hey, I just want to take a moment and just let this sink in,'” he says. “Because it was my professional caddie dream just to work this week.”

They looked up at the tent by the clubhouse where they’d had their wedding reception. And Greller remembers the question he asked then, one he still asks, ten years later.

“What just happened? How did Jordan just win?”

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The post ‘I actually cried’: Jordan Spieth’s caddie reveals 1 regret that still haunts him appeared first on Golf.

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During his long career carrying the bag of PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth, caddie Michael Greller has enjoyed his share of incredible highs.

Which isn’t to say there haven’t been a few lows, too.
 
Though he has accumulated three major titles among 13 total PGA Tour wins in what will be a Hall of Fame career, Spieth has had a roller-coaster run. For every big victory, he’s endured a handful of painful losses.
 
In the latest episode of The Scoop with GOLF’s Claire Rogers, Rogers asked Greller if there was one mistake that sticks out in his time on Spieth’s bag. It didn’t take long for Greller to identify the one decision he wishes he could “re-do” — from the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews.

Lifestyle

WATCH: Jordan Spieth's longtime caddie, Michael Greller, joins The Scoop

By: Claire Rogers

“For me, that was the hardest loss,” Greller began.  “A caddie once told me the better a player you work for the more great wins you’re going to have, and the more tough losses you’re going to have. You want to work for the greats, and you’re going to have those tough losses.”
 
Heading into the 2015 Open at St. Andrews, Spieth already had won the Masters and the U.S. Open earlier that year. On Sunday on the Old Course, he had a chance to win his third major of the season but failed to birdie either of the final two holes to earn a spot in a playoff.
 
The moment that still stings Greller today, he said, came on 18 when Spieth came up short with his approach, leaving himself with an all but unmakeable birdie putt and ending his title hopes. Greller still thinks about his boss’s club selection.
 
“If I had a re-do,” Greller said, “he ended up hitting a gap wedge, he was left and he was being aggressive because he was trying to make birdie there on the 18th hole at St. Andrews. And he ended up coming…short and it came all the way back down to the bottom, and he had to make a 40-footer to get in the playoff. But in hindsight I wish he would have hit it to 20 feet behind it.”
 
Greller’s reaction in the moment spoke to how much he burned to win.
 
“I actually cried after that one I was so upset,” he said. “And not just that decision… it was just he was on the cusp of having a great chance to literally win the first three majors. Then he ended up getting solo-second at Whistling Straits that year at the PGA. He was not far off from winning all four majors  So that’s probably one that I think about.”
 
You watch Greller’s full appearance on The Scoop below, or on GOLF.com’s YouTube page here.

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Next up on the Scoop: Michael Greller!

Jordan Spieth’s longtime caddie and right-hand man joined me for a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream to discuss all things golf.

I’ve gotten to know a handful of caddies over the last few years, and they are some of my favorite people in golf. They’re excited to chat on the range while their players warm up, which is good, because they usually have the best stories. They’re also some of the kindest people you’ll find on a golf course. Bones Mackay officially introduced me to Greller on the range at the 2023 U.S. Open, but I’ve been a supporter of his for a while. Greller has been half of some of the most iconic player-caddie interactions in golf — how could I not be a fan?

I was super excited when Greller agreed to join me on the Scoop. I also knew I was going to have a lot of questions for him. How did he go from a middle school teacher to a major-winning caddie? Is he aware that his on-course conversations with Spieth often go viral? What has he learned throughout his career?

You’ll get answers to all those questions, plus a whole lot more, in this episode of the Scoop. You’ll also see that Greller is awesome — and understand why his relationship with Jordan Spieth is so special.

Watch below!

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Jordan Spieth wanted driver, Michael Greller wanted 3-wood — and then the funniest thing happened.

History was made.   

Spieth agreed. 

During this year’s Sentry event, he walked back to his bag, put down his pick and pulled out Greller’s. 

“That was the first time I remember actually switching what I was doing because of Mike, what he said,” Spieth said.  

First time?

“First time in a while where I actually switched.”

Greller was spot on, too. He’d thought a 3-wood-hybrid combo would make the best play for his boss — and Spieth proceeded to hit both and make birdie. The story, though, was not meant to spotlight Greller’s accuracy, or Spieth’s potential mis-read. Instead, there’s a certain dynamic to Spieth, and there’s Greller’s role in that. They were explaining it last week on a video with the gang from No Laying Up — and you can and should watch the entire video here — after this question to Greller from NLU’s Chris Solomon: 

When you disagree with something on the golf course, how do you communicate that?

If you understand Spieth, you understand the point of that question. On the video, Greller summed it up well. Caddies want their players confident over shots, and confidence comes from not feeling doubt. But then there’s also Spieth. And his proclivity for the preposterous. Which makes telling Spieth no …

“It’s tricky,” Greller said on the video. “Jordan believes probably more than any golfer in the world that he can pull off any shot.” 

“Very much to a fault,” Spieth said. 

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Indeed. Google ‘Jordan Spieth crazy shot’ and have a look. But back to Solomon’s question. How do you manage that?

Spieth and Greller have their ways, though it’s adjusted over the years. It made for an interesting look into perhaps the most well-known player-caddie duo on the PGA Tour. 

For a while, Greller said on the video, he got “vetoes.” To make it effective, Greller thought he’d get one. 

“But Jordan gave me unlimited vetoes,” Greller said. “So …” 

“Like unlimited PTO,” Solomon said. “It’s not really more valuable. I’m not going to recognize it.” 

“I think when I got to my fifth-straight veto and he re-vetoed me,” Greller said, “we went away from the vetoes.”

A stoplight system was next. Though, there, they ignored the green light.  

And Greller also seemed stuck on the middle color. 

“At one point, we went to, like, yellow-light, red-light system,” Spieth said on the video. “And then kind of got pretty yellow. … He’d be like, I think this is a yellow light; I think you should probably think about it. 

“Or this is red light. It was really a red light thing.”

That was scrapped too. (Notably, after a question from NLU’s Todd Schuster, there was really only one light in play when Spieth was out of contention come Sunday.)  

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Their current system, Spieth felt, is the best, though. 

Numbers. On the video, he gave an example. 

“So if I have 170,” Spieth said, “but I have a 7-iron out, he’s thinking your 7-iron goes [1]85, not [1]90, whatever, depending on the temperature. He’s going to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. But if I’m like, we’re saying this shot plays 170, then he’s got to trust that I’m hitting a 170 7-iron. 

“And that’s just been a way better system.”

But back to the Kapalua story, from the start of this piece. 

There was a bit more there. Greller had convinced Spieth, and the player also had a thought about that.  

“I’m like, Michael — what did I say?” Spieth asked on the video.

“I’d be a good lobbyist,” Greller said.  

“Yeah,” Spieth said. “No, I said, that’s some good lobbying.”

Editor’s note: To watch the entire No Laying Up video with Spieth and Greller, please click here. Or scroll below.     

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Michael Greller jokes at first. He’s standing around on the range with his boss, Jordan Spieth, and the gang from No Laying Up, when NLU’s Chris Solomon wondered when the caddie’s been most upset with his player. There had to be a moment, especially from a duo as dynamic as Spieth and Greller.  

He deadpans his answer. 

“Most upset?” Greller repeated. “I’ve never been mad at Jordan. 

“He always listens to me.”

But yeah, he had a time. It featured his wife, Ellie. 

And a car. 

And a thumb. 

It’s here where we must tell you to watch the entire video with Spieth, Greller and the No Laying Up crew, published Thursday, and you can do so here. It’s good. It’s engaging. There is back-and-forth on golf. Football. Player-caddie inner-workings. Go, go, go. Watch. We’ll wait. 

…

OK, here’s Greller’s story. We’ll add just notes. 

The moment happened in 2017, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, notably where Spieth and Greller are this week. They had just finished their second round, at Spyglass Hill, where Spieth shot a 65 on his way to an eventual win. Greller said Spieth was flying high. Excited. They took Spieth’s car, a minivan, back to Pebble Beach. Ellie was with them, in the front seat, and Greller was in the back. 

The minivan’s back door was open. Spieth asked Greller to jump out and close it. He did. 

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“So I go back, I close it,” he said, “Jordan just takes off and starts driving.”

Was Spieth gonna pull the ole start-and-stop gag? Maybe. Greller said he ran up to the car, about 100 yards away. 

“I get close,” Greller said, “he goes again — then he just takes off. 

“And literally left me.”

Said Spieth: “Ellie had no idea what to do because she wasn’t going to, like, speak up to me for whatever reason and then she was also like, are you serious, you’re not going to go back?”

There’s more. Greller had to get back. But he had no phone. 

He said he hitchhiked. 

“I literally had my thumb out and some random person brought me back to Pebble, and then I couldn’t find my wife,” Greller said on the video. “I was actually more mad at Ellie. Like Ellie, how did you let him just take off on me? So Ellie had gone home and I had to borrow a caddie’s phone, call Ellie, and she came back and got me about 45 minutes later. 

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“So that would be up there for most upset I’ve been with Jordan.”

Indeed. 

Here, Solomon was curious again, appropriately. 

“Are you pranking him all the time or …”

“Occasionally,” Spieth said. 

“But normally it’s like little things like, you know, on the range or whatever.”

Editor’s note: To watch the No Laying Up video with Spieth and Greller, please click here. Or scroll below.   

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Follow Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller, and you know the game: It’s as if there’s a game within the game. Come for their player-caddie golf, but stay for their player-caddie banter, if you will.  

The stories are countless, as Spieth is forever curious and Greller is unruffled and wise. It’s good theater, too, even despite the plot and outcome being mostly identical to previous renditions. Most recently, there was:

— The back-and-forth from the trees at the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge, where Spieth saw a crack in the leaves and branches, Greller didn’t — who could? — Spieth won out — and Spieth performed the miracle. 

— The back-and-forth from a par-3 tee at the 2022 Scottish Open, where Spieth was flummoxed by the wind and his club selection, Greller was steadfast in the choice, Greller won out — and Spieth found the green. 

— The back-and-forth from a fairway bunker at the 2022 BMW Championship, where Speith wanted to hit something daring, Greller wanted something safe, Spieth won out — and Spieth hit into the water. 

And on and on. There are more. You probably have your own favorite. 

And to your list, you can consider Friday, from the tee on the 540-yard, par-5 9th on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, where Spieth held driver during the second round of the Sentry. 

But wouldn’t that be too much club? Perhaps. 

Wouldn’t a ball roll into the thick stuff and prevent a shot at getting home in two? Maybe. 

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Wasn’t the wind helping some? Yes. 

Didn’t playing partner Scottie Scheffler, just seconds earlier, hit driver with an abbreviated swing — and finish in the rough? Yes. 

Wasn’t analyst Andy North whispering for a fairway metal on the PGA Tour Live broadcast? Yes. 

Then again, you usually want the extra yards. You usually want a shorter club into par-5s. This is the game we play. 

Greller walked to the tee. He talked with his boss. PGA Tour Live mics picked up Speith saying, “It’s close.” And “hybrid.” Hmm. Greller walked away. Spieth still held the driver. 

Spieth then said this, a playful nine-word jab:

“I appreciate your lobbying, but that was a stretch.”

I appreciate your lobbying, but that was a stretch. That’s funny.   

But Spieth then did this:

He walked back to his bag, propped the driver against it and pulled out a 3-wood. Good stuff. There was more. Greller rejoined Spieth on the tee. Caddie and player talked again. At the end, PGA Tour Live mics picked up this, from Greller:

“I still think that’s for sure in the fairway.”

Spieth said OK. He hit. His ball finished in the fairway. 

He eventually made birdie.   

“Give Greller an assist,” announcer Ned Michaels said on the PGA Tour Live broadcast after the tee shot. 

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“Absolutely.” announcer Trey Wingo said.  

“He’s got an earpiece,” North said. “He’s listening to our show.” 

“I thought you gave him the sign,” Michaels said. 

“Well, Greller won the argument and it was the right decision,” Wingo said.  

The show continues Saturday. 

Spieth and Greller play their third round. 

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A mishit. Then another, off a tree. 

A Michael Greller giggle. 

Verbal frustration. 

The rules. Then a ruling. 

Another mishit, again off a tree. 

More verbal frustration. 

Whew. This Jordan Spieth experience had a little bit of everything. Though we’ve grown accustomed to his adventures, this was still a trip. Playing the final round of the final tournament of the PGA Tour’s regular season, Spieth gave us a parting memory. 

The sequence at the Tour Championship began at the start. Spieth’s tee shot on Sunday on hole one at East Lake Golf Club sailed left. His ball finished a yard right of a boundary fence. There, he took a stance. He took practice swings. He hit. 

Spieth’s ball hit a tree. It dropped about 10 yards forward, just inside a support pole of the boundary fence. 

There was more. 

Spieth called for a rules official. He wasn’t sure if the ball’s location was O.B. At this point, Greller, Spieth’s longtime bagman, laughed. 

“Greller’s laughing,” laughed analyst Craig Perks on the PGA Tour Live broadcast. 

There was more. 

As Spieth waited, he grew frustrated. It was hot. He wasn’t in contention; he started Sunday 20 strokes behind leader Viktor Hovland. He wiped sweat from his brow with his right forearm. He leaned forward, onto a club. He stood back up. “Really?” he moaned. 

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There was more. 

Official Ken Tackett came. He told Spieth his ball was out of bounds. Spieth put up little fight. Here was the complete exchange, as captured by PGA Tour Live mics. 

Said Spieth: “I don’t know if this is qualified as inbounds or out here.” 

Said Tackett: “It’s a boundary fence.” 

Said Spieth: “I know, but it goes here. So I don’t know if the pole is a fence or not.” 

Said Tackett: “It’s the fence. This — the golf course sod …”

Said Spieth: “It’s out of bounds?”

Said Tackett: “It’s out of bounds.” 

Said Spieth: “OK.”

There was more. Almost done. 

Spieth dropped. “Not the start that the viewers and Jordan wanted,” Perks said on the PGA Tour Live broadcast. Spieth talked over the distance with Greller. Spieth hit. 

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Spieth’s ball glanced off the tree. This time, it dropped into the fairway, about 60 yards from the hole. 

There was still more. 

At this point, Spieth shouted. 

“Come on, Jordan!”

Whew. 

From there, Spieth pitched onto the green, and he two-putted for a triple-bogey seven. 

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The post Was this Jordan Spieth’s best-ever bunker shot? Even Michael Greller says yes appeared first on Golf.

The post Was this Jordan Spieth’s best-ever bunker shot? Even Michael Greller says yes appeared first on Golf.

Michael Greller, a math teacher in a former life, is, in fact, much like what you think a math teacher is like in his current role. Jordan Spieth’s bagman is a numbers man. There is no hyperbole here. 

Adjectives are not tossed around. 

But when they are, you click on stories entitled: “Was this Jordan Spieth’s best-ever bunker shot? Even Michael Greller says yes.” You know it has the goods. So here we all are. 

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Let’s set the scene. Spieth was in contention at the WM Phoenix Open, but, with three birdies and two bogeys during Saturday’s third round, he was treading water. On the bally-hooed, stadium-seating, par-3 16th, he hit 40 feet past the hole, was booed, and he two-putted. On the par-4 17th, his tee shot was poorer. 

The penultimate hole at TPC Scottsdale is risk-reward fun. You can drive it. But it’s a squeeze. On the left side of the green and behind it is water; Sahith Theegala found it last year while contending on the final day. There are five fairway bunkers. Spieth found the one on the right. 

And he was 77 yards away, that odd distance from the sand that gives your 14-handicap friend the sweats. 

And his pin was also in the back back.  

And his green started sloping toward the hole — and the water — in the middle. 

That was a lot of additions. Spieth and Greller and you started doing the math. 

It’s here where we’ll note that if you were watching from home, you did not see it. CBS stayed with the final grouping of Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Adam Hadwin on 16, and Hadwin’s near-ace, and Rahm’s 40-foot putt birdie putt and the crazies’ trash party. But there was a 15-word hint. The broadcast switched over to Spieth putting for birdie. 

“This was after a bunker shot,” analyst Mark Immelman said, “that Michael Greller called the best he’s ever seen.”

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Come again?

Afterward, there was another tease. Spieth’s press conference started this way:

“You were really challenged after the three-putt at 11 and you respond by playing the rest of the golf course in three-under par. Giving you a chance on Sunday.”

“Yeah, that was pretty much the day,” Spieth said. “I made one on 1, and I thought I’m just going to continue what I started with this morning finishing the second round. Then played 11 holes or so in two-over with no birdies. Just felt like I never really had any chances. I was long on some holes, short on some holes. It was really nice. I thought the last four holes were going to play harder today than any other day. I just wanted to play them one-under. So to grab an extra one there on 17 was certainly a bonus. Coming in with a better chance tomorrow.”

“A bonus is an understatement. It’s one of the better bunker shots I’ve ever seen. 77 yards. A little bit long. If the ball doesn’t grab, it can go down to the red line and penalty area.”

“Yeah, I could drop a bucket of balls and not hit another one inside of 10 feet,” Spieth said. “But I was in that bunker in the first round, and I hit a great shot to a tucked right pin. I feel like it’s a strength of my game, is those kind of in-between bunker shots that are normally some of the most challenging shots in golf. For whatever reason, I just feel comfortable in the uncomfortable in those kind of situations. It was nice for it to get within five feet, making that birdie putt quite a bit easier. But I was really just trying to leave it up on top of the hill, and if it happened to get the firm bounce it would be perfect and that’s what happened.”

Not hit another bucket of balls closer? Folks were getting restless for proof, outside of the couple thousand in Scottsdale who may have had an eye on it.  

One had a phone on it. And a couple hours after Spieth hit the shot, the Spieth Legion Twitter account shared a video of it.

His ball was about 5 feet in the bunker. The ball landed about 30 feet short of the hole, just as the downslope began, checked slightly and rolled to 3 feet.  

“Oh yeah!” a nearby fan yelled. 

“Yeahhhh!”

“Yeahhhhhhh!”

Shortly afterward, in real time, Greller then talked to Immelman. 

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