Justin Thomas Explains What Made Him Switch to the Scotty Cameron “Proto” Putter

Justin Thomas has revealed how he came to change his putter ahead of the Scottish Open.

Thomas has been looking for the right putter for some time as he identified a need to improve the greens.

He has now turned to a Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.2 Tour prototype after being inspired by his good friend Jordan Spieth.

“Yeah, it happened, funny as it may sound, I saw Jordan (Spieth) and Paul Vizanko at Scotty Cameron’s and they made one for Jordan, just so he could play with it and see if he liked it,” Thomas said. “I was at Jordan’s house a couple times during that time when he had it and I picked it up and I thought it looked amazing. I thought it was awesome.”

“Talking to Paul, there were a lot of features in the way the putter was built that helped me a lot with my bad tendencies, I would say in my stroke or they were just able to help me in that sense and so I asked him to make me one and send me one.”

In his first round with the new flatstick, Thomas ranked third in strokes gained at the Renaissance, shooting 62 to lead the field.

Among the 113 feet of putts he made, Thomas had an 11-foot double break on the 17th hole, which clearly motivated him.

“I played really well today and that par putt on 17 was huge,” Thomas said after the round. “I love not making a bogey.”

The new Phantom 9.2 Tour prototype features a similar head to the Phantom 9.5, but with significantly more rounded edges. Thomas has primarily used Scotty Cameron’s X5 Tour and T5 Proto dual-wing head designs throughout his career, and the new prototype being used for the first time in Scotland follows in the same footsteps. The putter features a unique top alignment line and a matte steel finish.

“I try to spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday getting acclimated, like we all do, to the grass and how the ball rolls,” Thomas said of the adjustments he’s made on the greens. “Just try to do as much as I can.”

The Phantom 9.2 Tour prototype wasn’t the only club launched by the 2017 FedEx Cup winner.

Thomas switched to Titleist’s new GT driver line off the tee and was seen swinging the Titleist GT2 driver with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

“When you drive well, like I did most of the time today, you have a lot of short clubs,” Thomas said, “and I don’t see anything but the flag.”