Spieth, caddie in another exchange
Buried rake takes momentum off a shot
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Jordan Spieth likes to share the credit — and the blame, too — with his caddie.
Halfway through the U.S. Open, there has been plenty of both to go around.
On Friday, Spieth and caddie Michael Greller endured another little mishap, which, once again, was captured loud and clear by the nearby TV microphones.
The three-time major champion was dumbfounded when he hit a ball out of a fairway bunker on the second hole that careened into a rake buried in the tall grass above the bunker, causing the ball to plummet after advancing only 15 yards. He saved bogey there and shot 3-under 69 to get to 2 under for the tournament.
“If I didn’t hit the rake, I don’t know if it had enough to get anywhere near the green, or if it would have been way short or what, but certainly it would have been in a better position than it went to,” Spieth said.
Normally, it’s a caddie’s job to make sure his player has a clear path out of a bunker — free of rakes, clubs or any other thing that can be legally moved out of the way.
In this case, Spieth took the blame, “That’s on me,” he said. “I’ve just got to look at all options ahead of me. And if there are rakes in front of the bunker, typically we pull them out. But when I was in it, I couldn’t see it. So it was kind of a weird set of events.”
Probably good for Spieth to take responsibility, considering his exchange with Greller a day earlier.
After his tee shot on No. 8 went long and rolled off a cliff, TV microphones caught Spieth grilling the caddie about club selection: “Two perfect shots, Michael. You got me in the water on one and over the green on the other.”
Fox, apparently picking up on the tension, added “Caddie: Michael Greller” to the graphic showing Spieth’s score several times when he played a shot Friday in Round 2.
The mics were close when Spieth hit the rake.
“Oh, it hit the rake. Oh, there’s a rake there,” Spieth said. “Got over the lip and hit the rake.”
Greller responded: “There is a rake there.”
The sometime-animated back-and-forths between player and caddie are nothing new. TV mics over the years have caught their detailed conversations, and Spieth is among the players who likes to say “We” when describing things he did on the golf course.
That might explain Spieth’s lack of filter in conversations with Greller.
“I think our communication has been very successful over the last six, seven years,” he said.
“It’s kind of all the stuff I used to hold in my head before I’m able to kind of just fall out now. And it’s very important, especially when you’re trying to hit small greens ... here at Pebble Beach, it’s nice to have somebody looking out for you.”
Graduation secondary
Brandon Wu will be missing his graduation ceremony Sunday at Stanford.
Wu has been the biggest surprise Friday in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He was 4 under through 10 holes until a double bogey on the par-4 second hole. The Stanford senior was at 2 under and will be around for the weekend. The cut was 3 over.
Wu won his final match at Stanford as the Cardinal won the NCAA title over Texas. Then, he flew to Ohio and qualified for his first U.S. Open.
Wu said after that qualifier that his goal was to make the cut in the U.S. Open, and that maybe he would wear his cap and gown down the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach if he can’t make the commencement.
Cart accident
Five people were injured Friday at the U.S. Open when one of several boxes being loaded onto a golf cart fell onto the accelerator and sent the cart into spectators.
The California Highway Patrol says a vendor parked the cart near the 16th hole at Pebble Beach and was walking away when a box fell onto the gas pedal, moving it forward. It struck four spectators and the vendor before it was brought under control.
The Monterey Herald says two victims were taken by ambulance to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Their names were not released.