It's one thing to win a major. It's quite another to capture back-to-back U.S. Open titles, and do it with the same putter. That's what happened this past Sunday when the national golf championship wrapped up at Shinnecock Hills, NY.
The winner, the first player to go back-to-back in the U.S. Open since Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989, dropped his final putt, hugged his caddie and handed over his prized Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport 2—also known as a "Button Back" for the three "button head" screws in the back cavity that secure the Teryllium insert—for safekeeping.
This particular Button Back with its sight line in the flange has been in the champion's possession for over a decade. With its soft feel and Teryllium inlay weathered to a nice, well-gamed patina, it's an early iteration of Scotty's designs that deliberately incorporated multiple materials like Teryllium (a copper alloy and Titleist/Scotty Cameron trademark name) and elastomer for vibration dampening. Today's 2018 Select putters are designed to offer the same feel and feedback using the most modern materials.
Every putter that stays in a player's bag for that long has a story, and this particular Newport 2 Button Back is no different. As many young players with promise do, the future major winner found himself at the Scotty Cameron Putter Studio in Southern California while still on the Florida State University golf team. Seeing that a prominent Tour winner at the time was finding success with the model, the eventual two-time U.S. Open champion asked Scotty if he could try one. While he's gamed other models throughout his career, he's always gone back to his Newport 2 Button Back.
