If you want to get a better understanding of just how far Tiger Woods has fallen, look no further than the man many believe is replacing him as the face of golf — Jordan Spieth.
Actually, look a little bit further. Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, had himself a fantastic year in 2015. It was so fantastic, in fact, that he probably made significantly more money on the course than one of the highest-paid athletes in the world.
Tiger Woods made just $448,598 playing golf this year. Spieth broke Tiger’s previous on-course winnings record of $20,867,052 when he won the FedEx Cup last weekend and finished the season with $22,030,465 in on-course earnings.
As Kyle Porter of Eye on Golf notes, caddies typically get 5 percent of what a player makes for a made cut, 7 percent for a top-10 finish and 10 percent for a win. It’s possible Spieth pays Greller, who is a close friend of his, more than that, but Greller made about $1.12 million this season if you use that conservative formula. If you assume Spieth gave him 10 percent of the $10 million bonus he earned for winning the FexEx Cup, Greller made $2.12 million. Assuming the numbers are close, Greller can proudly say he made about $1.6 million more on the course this year than one of the greatest golfers to ever live.
And we wouldn’t be surprised if Spieth kicked Greller a few more bucks.
“What it allows me to do is, it allows me to now even more so, take care of the people that have given me this position and allowed this to happen,” Spieth said after winning the FexEx Cup bonus.
Of course, we all know Tiger made far more than $448,598 this season. You can see from his place on this list of top-earning athletes that on-course earnings are only a fraction of Tiger’s fortune. If nothing else, the number crunch helps put Spieth’s dominance into perspective.
Photo: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
