COLORADO SPRINGS – Golf at the elite level is star driven, of course, but occasionally, even refreshingly, the stars align to a degree that allows an interloper to take the stage alongside the headliners. Meet Tom Greller.
An amateur golfer from the town of Newberg, about 40 miles southwest of Portland, in Oregon wine country, Greller, 53, who plays to a 0.6 handicap index at Newberg’s municipal course, is a medical device salesman for Microtransponder.
Somehow, some way, Greller qualified to play in the U.S. Senior Open this week on the East Course at the Broadmoor here, and on Monday, he played a nine-hole practice round with World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els.
By way of introduction, his younger brother is Michael Greller, Jordan Spieth’s widely-known caddie, who helped arrange the practice round.
“That was amazing,” Greller said. “Ernie could not have been cooler. Super talkative and great to be around.”
Greller was a walk-on at Furman University, though he failed to make the golf team. He gravitated toward beach volleyball, his passion until aging caught up to him. But he kept playing golf, and has had a 20-year habit of playing USGA qualifiers and always coming up short.
“The (U.S.) Amateur, the (U.S.) Public Links, the Mid-Amateur, the Four-ball,” he said. “I was an alternate in all of them except for the U.S. Amateur.”
Then he reached the final stage of qualifying for the 2025 U.S. Senior Open. In the midst of his round, Spieth, with brother Michael on the bag, and Rickie Fowler were in the midst of a practice round.
“Jordan, Rickie and Michael were refreshing the phone every couple of minutes, checking the scores,” Greller said.
When he qualified, Spieth and Fowler sent him congratulatory texts, while “Michael might have been more excited than me,” Tom Greller said.
And maybe the most remarkable part of this story? “I go out and practice in town,” he said. “I get out for an hour or so in the evening, or play nine holes. I probably play less golf than anyone in the field. [Qualifiers] are the only real time I play 18 holes. I play all the state level stuff, Publinks against all the college kids, all the state and USGA stuff. I usually play five or six tournaments a season.”
Greller, whose oldest son, Ray, a golfer at Northwestern College in Iowa, is his caddie this week, a family affair that will only be a happy one, however it turns out.
“I have no score expectations,” Greller said, though no doubt there will be a couple of PGA Tour stars and one very proud caddie who likely will be checking their phones to get score updates.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
