Jordan Spieth’s Caddie Has Made More Money Than 159 PGA Tour Members In 2015
Two years ago, Michael Greller was a sixth grade teacher in the Seattle, Washington area. Today he is the caddie of Jordan Spieth and would rank — if Spieth and Greller use the standard caddie compensation structure on the PGA Tour — 93rd on the tour in year-to-date earnings among golfers. But he’s not a golfer. He’s a caddie.
His earnings are roughly $867,000 in 2015, more than 159 PGA Tour members.
From Business Insider:
In 19 events so far this season, Spieth has 12 top-10 finishes and five wins, including the Masters and US Open. That has added up to $9.7 million in winnings and $8.7 million on the official Tour money list. The latter is more than twice as much as anybody else on the Tour this season, and already more than any golfer has ever won on the regular portion of the PGA Tour schedule.
Caddies are traditionally paid 5% of the prize money for making a cut, 7% for finishing in the top 10, and 10% for winning a tournament according to Golf Digest’s “undercover pro.” If Spieth is using the same structure, his success on the golf course this season translates to a share of $866,534 for Greller.
Guy’s gonna cruise right past a cool mill this season unless Spieth is sidelined or forgets how to make a cut.
Throw in the fact that he spends much of his life jet-setting around the world in a PJ, rubbing elbows with the biggest names in golf, and gets more free Under Armour swag than he can shake his dick at, and it’s clear that Greller has a pretty sweet gig. .
[via Business Insider]
Image via Instagram/ @jordanspieth
Riding anothers coattails to success. TFM.
10 years ago at 1:03 pmWhen your caddie makes more than double our President’s salary…
10 years ago at 1:07 pmThat’s what happens when you actually do your job well. You get compensated accordingly.
10 years ago at 1:18 pmSaid from McDonald’s?
10 years ago at 1:19 pmIn McDonald’s defense, they made around $30 billion dollars last year in revenue alone. I can confidently say that they’re doing just fine.
10 years ago at 1:24 pmThe pay rate for the president doesn’t change based on how “well” you’re doing.
10 years ago at 1:31 pmI didn’t mean to base it off of the president alone. I was simply stating that Greller is doing his job well and he’s getting paid more because of it. He caddied Spieth to back-to-back major victories and more pay, in my opinion, is merited.
10 years ago at 1:50 pmYes, cause despite whether or not you like the president, being Commander in Chief totally pales in comparison to being Speith’s bag bitch.
10 years ago at 1:49 pmYes, he does pale in comparison. Your incompetent do gooder president hasn’t done one single positive thing for this country since he has taken office. The position of POTUS is a servant to the American people, not a ruler, and he has served us nothing but debt and animosity towards people of different ethnicities and classes of wealth.
10 years ago at 2:38 pmAfter reading your dumbass comments, I’m starting to see why you hid your first name. You’re clearly not Marcellus, and must look like a bitch.
10 years ago at 5:12 pmWelcome to a capitalist society
10 years ago at 1:19 pmThe President’s salary is (comparatively) low and is given a blind stock portfolio to remove conflicts of interest and money as a motivator for taking office.
Obama sucks but had the same job benefits as Reagan. The position has nothing to do with merit based pay and everything to do with the honor of civil service.
10 years ago at 4:31 pmBabe Ruth was once asked his thoughts about making more money than the president. His response was, “I know but I had a better year than Hoover.”
10 years ago at 6:50 pmTwo years ago, Michael Greller had your dream job, Dillon.
10 years ago at 1:10 pmhttp://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/michael-greller-has-made-money-159-other-tour-players-2015
I know it’s Sunday and all but you literally word-for-word copied this entire article.
10 years ago at 1:44 pmYou’re an idiot. Both Dorn and the golf.com article cited Business Insider as their original source. That’s totally fine, given that credit is given where credit is due.
10 years ago at 2:49 pmI understand what your saying but what I mean is he could have added a little worthy commentary to it such as how it’s a “Total Frat Move”. Instead of just literally copying an article from business insider or golf digest.
10 years ago at 6:09 pmSeriously, what the fuck are you talking about?
10 years ago at 6:52 pmYou’re smart.
10 years ago at 5:01 pmJordan is winning the FedEx Cup too. Which will be another cool mill in the caddie’s pocket.
10 years ago at 3:46 pmThere’s no chance I pay my caddie 10% of my FedEx Cup $10,000,000 jackpot. The 10 mil is a performance bonus and has nothing to do with the purse in the last event. If my caddie has collected his cut for every tournament check along the way including the last tournament, why should he get a million dollars out of my bonus?
10 years ago at 9:00 pmBecause he’s the same guy who helped you get there in the first place.
10 years ago at 9:37 pmDo you honestly believe that 10% of Jordan Speith’s success should be credited to his caddie? No chance. But at the same time, I don’t mind 10% of every tournament check being paid to the caddie for earning his money. But when the year is over and you’re crowned the champion and receive the $10,000,000 bonus, that’s all you. If you give your caddie 10% of that, it’s charity.
10 years ago at 9:57 pmNotice how Speith in virtually every interview he gives uses “we” instead referring to just himself personally. Caddies are so much more important than you think. Look at Tiger and Stevie Williams for all of those years. You cannot tell me that Steve Williams played no role in Tiger’s success and shouldn’t be rewarded appropriately for his efforts. Same goes with Greller and Speith
10 years ago at 10:35 pmSteve Williams was “appropriately” rewarded $20,000,000 in career earnings as a caddie? Nope. Tiger won a Masters with Fluff on the bag in ’97 and won the 2013 PGA Tour POY with Joe LaCava. The more credit you give to the caddie, the more credit you’re taking away from just how impossibly difficult it is to be that good at golf. Caddies are there for yardage approval and to keep control of the player’s emotion. Players don’t select you based on some incredible skill you have, they take you based on compatibility. There are PGA caddies who take home 70k/year. Are they considerably worse at their job than Speith’s $2,000,000 caddie? Would Speith’s game go to shit if he used the best course caddie available at whatever venue he played? No. He’s still Jordan Speith.
10 years ago at 11:06 pmClearly you have never played a respectable course.
10 years ago at 10:52 pmI’ve played Oakmont.
10 years ago at 11:07 pmYou must be an expert on Golf
10 years ago at 12:12 amI bet you shoot a 105 in a good day
10 years ago at 12:10 amSpieth and his caddie show up to every event with equal course knowledge, and Spieth obviously has better knowledge of his swing. They map out the course together and create a plan of attack with slope and yardage for each hole based on the 4 pin locations for each day of the tournament. Having two people create the book provides the necessary checks and balances. Before Spieth breaks into his shot routine, his caddie recites the marked info they charted and gives Spieth options. That’s the job: Carry the bag and read the book. What makes a tour caddie great is the ability to keep the player level-headed and to talk him out of emotion-based decisions. But don’t get it twisted, the caddie doesn’t have more course knowledge than the player, and the player still calls all the shots because he understands his swing better than his caddie. A tour caddie is just a secretary who relays charted information to the CEO, and carries his briefcase to his car. If you honestly think $2M/year is a fair wage for that body of work, I don’t know what else to say.
10 years ago at 1:32 amIt’s not a fair caddie wage, but it is a fair wage for Speith’s caddie. It’s never a good idea to debate the highest paid position in the world at a certain job. If you look at how an average tour caddie did with moderate success I think it would help you grasp that his caddie deserves every dollar he gets.
10 years ago at 8:09 amOk I’ll be honest, this isn’t some of my better work. I was in a weird place last night. I’d like to apologize to Spieth, his caddie, and caddies everywhere for my slanderous ramblings.
10 years ago at 9:54 amThis got way too emotional.
10 years ago at 6:22 pmNo, but I don’t believe 40% of Jordan’s Spieth’s success should go to the government either… but it does.
10 years ago at 8:53 amYou’re getting too technical here for someone else’s money. Just let it go.
10 years ago at 7:12 pmYou gotta know when to throw in the towel man.
10 years ago at 11:02 amYou like to shake your dick at a lot of things, don’t you dorn
10 years ago at 4:18 pmMoney is weird. It has a little bit to do with being smart or hard working or talented or whatever but most of it just being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people. I love it.
10 years ago at 7:59 pmTalented. Whatever the fuck that means.
10 years ago at 6:52 pm