Jordan Spieth’s caddie posts message vowing they’ll be ‘back’ following Masters debacle

Jordan Spieth’s collapse at the Masters has been assessed, dissected, and analyzed as if it were the Zapruder film by pundits who want to know what went wrong, when, and why. That will be the case for years to come.

Jordan Spieth will not be one of those doing the slicing and dicing, according to his caddie, Michael Greller.

“The 2016 Masters stung … We have received an outpouring of support and thoughtful messages. But don’t feel sorry or sad for us,” Greller wrote on Facebook after letting the passion surrounding Sunday’s final round subside some. “We won’t get stuck in this moment, nor should you. We will work harder, fight harder and be better for it. We will bounce back as we have done many times.”

Greller, a critical part of Spieth’s “we” team since he began looping for him full-time in 2012, congratulated Danny Willett for his “incredible final round” and related a story about watching Spieth lose the 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship after conceding a two-foot-plus putt to Jack Senior on the final hole.

“Rather than run to the locker-room and escape the scene, he stuck around and thanked his friends who had followed him,” Greller wrote. “There was no panic, anger or sadness.”

Greller noted that Spieth went on to defeat Senior in Walker Cup singles a couple weeks later and has nine worldwide wins since that day, among other accomplishments:

“Two majors. One Fed Ex Cup. Been #1 golfer on the planet. Two President’s Cup teams. One Ryder Cup team. A future Olympian.”

With all the success comes “tough losses,” like the one that ended his pursuit of the calendar grand slam at last year’s British Open — after which Spieth congratulated winner Zach Johnson “and even flew home with him.”

Winning, Greller noted, “shows your character and losing shows ALL your character.” His boss, he said, displays “grace and humility through wins and especially losses … Jordan Spieth is the same genuine, grounded and humble person he was five years ago, in victory or defeat.”

Greller also shared a perspective that those of us who chronicle the ups and down, Ws and Ls, the thrill, and agony of athletic competition would do well to remember.

“At the end of the day, golf is a sport,” he wrote. “This isn’t life and death stuff.”