Of all professional golfers, none have captured the imagination of the fans and the general public quite like Tiger Woods. In a quarter century of professional play, Woods has tied the record for most PGA Tour wins, is second in all-time major championships, and has won the PGA Player of the Year Award 11 times. Before he even opened the book on his pro career, Tiger Woods was looked upon as the game’s most promising amateur to come along in generations.
This is where this remarkable piece of golf history comes in. This is the very first victory putter created for golf legend Tiger Woods, crafted by Scotty Cameron himself.
For over 25 years, master putter maker Scotty Cameron has handmade the best putters the game has ever seen. Beginning with Bernhard Langer’s 1993 Masters win using one of Cameron’s creations, the best in the game have gravitated to these finely engineered pieces. Out of all the champions who have swung a Scotty Cameron putter, by far the most notable is Tiger Woods. Tiger has used a Cameron putter in all of his 15 major championships and continues to do so today, most recently at the 2022 Masters.
This particular Scotty Cameron putter was created for Tiger Woods before he turned pro – specifically after winning his third consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship in 1996. The ’96 Amateur has gone down as one of the greatest matches in golf history. Stanford’s Tiger Woods was defending his previous two Amateur victories against University of Florida sophomore Steve Scott. As a testament to the excitement surrounding this matchup, an astounding 15,000 people crowded into Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club as the underdog Scott took a 5-up lead against Woods in the first 18. In the second 18, Scott retained his lead all the way to the 17th hole. Then, Tiger made his move to tie, sending the match to playoff holes. It was on the 38th hole that Tiger was able to pull ahead and claim his third consecutive Amateur Championship.
Woods turned professional shortly after the win. He was named Sports Illustrated’s 1996 Sportsman of the Year and won the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year Award.
Besides the glory of being just the fourth golfer in history to win three Amateurs, the 20-year-old prodigy was gifted his first victory putter, this Scotty Cameron Newport putter. The putter has been specially engraved with “1996 U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP” along the bottom and “TIGER” and “SCOTTY CAMERON” on the backside. The putter shows good use with various dings and wear as expected. The engraving is strong, and the paint fill is still present.
Unlike baseball or football where game used bats and equipment from the best modern players are more readily available to collectors, putters and clubs used by Tiger Woods are unimaginably rare. In 2020, one of Tiger Woods’ backup putters sold at auction for $154,928 while a second one sold in April of this year for $393,300. As opposed to a backup putter, this one offered here is a one-of-a-kind victory putter, Tiger’s first, awarded after the early Amateurs championship that launched his professional career.
This iconic putter derives from the family of Bill Orr, Tiger’s first golf club fitter. The Orange County, CA-based club refinisher started his golf business in the 1970s and worked with other PGA greats such as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Earl Woods and his golf phenom son, Eldrick, would frequent Orr’s shop and entrusted Bill with reshaping the tools that have made Tiger a living legend. This one-of-a-kind victory putter was gifted by Tiger to the Orr family and has remained in their possession for the past 20 years. This piece of golf history also comes with a Letter of Authenticity from Titleist/Scotty Cameron which assigns it an official registry number.