JJ Spaun’s incredible iron shots were backed up by a solid putting performance that led to his maiden major triumph at the US Open.
Spaun’s 62-foot putt on Oakmont’s 18th green to win the US Open was one of the most ridiculous final shots in any major.
With two putts for his first major, and just second win on the PGA Tour, he nailed a putt across the 72nd hole to sign off a week of awful weather, even worse rough, ludicrous bad breaks and, at the end of it all, a score somehow in red figures.
“I didn’t look at the scoreboard. I knew based off of like what the crowd was saying that I felt like, if I two-putted, I would probably win, but I didn’t want to play defensive,” explained the 34-year-old.
“I didn’t want to do anything dumb trying to protect a three-putt or something. Viktor [Hovland] helped me a lot. It was a foot left of my line. I was more focused on how hard he was hitting it. I kind of knew the line already, but it looked like he gave it a pretty good whack because it started raining there for the last 10, 15 minutes.
“I just tried to pick my line and put a good stroke on it. I knew it was going to be a little slow. About eight feet out, I kind of went up to the high side to see if it had a chance of going in, and it was like going right in.”
The putter, a L.A.B Golf DL3, that will now go down in US Open history – he would hole something like 137 feet of putts in the last seven holes – is unique in the sense that it is the first zero-torque putter to win a Major.
A zero torque putter is designed to minimise or eliminate torque which is the twisting force that occurs during the putting stroke, especially on off-centre hits.
Notably, it is face-balanced in all directions. Most putters are only face balanced when laid flat, but zero torque putters maintain face balance even when moved in a more natural, arced stroke. This helps keep the face square to the path.
Also, the shaft is often connected to the putter head in a way that centres the mass and reduces torque. Some designs offset the shaft behind the face or connect it at the centre of mass. This means that it remains stable on off-centre hits, there is less manipulation needed in the hands and mishits come off like pure strikes.
Before switching to the L.A.B putter Spaun used a Scotty Cameron blade and he still has this grip on there to maintain that feel on the club. At the end of the week at Oakmont Spaun’s putter was an absolutely key weapon and saw him gain over 10 shots on the field.
