NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
J.J. Spaun’s performance down the stretch of the U.S. Open was a revelation. The star of that show was an L.A.B. Golf DF3 putter.
Spaun drained 401 feet of putts for the week on Oakmont’s fearsome greens. But it was the 126 feet that accounted for three birdie putts in his last seven holes that made the impression that will last. Especially the 64-foot, 5-inch putt he poured in on the 72nd hole to win – the longest made by any player on the 18th green all week.
Of course, it was the 40-footer on the par-5 12th that triggered Spaun’s rally under brutal weather conditions after what seemed like a devastating front nine had taken him out of the mix before a 96-minute weather suspension. Spaun backed that up with a 22-footer for birdie on the par-3 14th.
The 40- and 64-footers were the two longest putts Spaun has made all season.
The whole stretch run left playing partner Viktor Hovland in awe of the “unbelievable” performance he was witnessing. “To watch him hole the putt on 12 down the hill there was unreal,” Hovland said. “And then he makes another one on 14 that was straight down the hill. And then the one on 18, it’s just absolutely filthy there.”
Pretty good for a player who before Oakmont ranked 158th of 179 qualified players on the PGA Tour in feet of putts made per round.
L.A.B. Golf – which also had a putter in the hands of Adam Scott (L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max Prototype long) in the Sunday hunt – earned its first men’s major championship victory in splashy fashion, with Spaun tossing his magic wand in the air for photos that couldn’t have been staged any better in a studio.
The folks at L.A.B. even forecasted Spaun’s triumph.
“It’s J.J.’s week this week,” L.A.B. tour rep Joe Miera told GolfWRX on Tuesday before the U.S. Open started. “He’s a grinder, and winning in Pittsburgh, a hard-working city, at Oakmont, a grinder’s course – it makes too much sense. He feels really positive, and Oakmont fits his game well.”
Eerie. Hope he bet him at 150-to-1 odds before the tournament.
Spaun credited his L.A.B. putter with his career resurgence back in March when he lost in a Monday morning playoff to Rory McIlroy at the Players Championship.
“I’ve been putting a lot better. … I think the putter’s been a lot more stable as of recent months. … I think people expect to kind of pull it off the rack and start making everything,” Spaun said. “You kind of have to unlearn some of your tendencies. Almost in a way you got to get out of the way of the putter or the ball, whatever you want to say, and just let it do its thing. There is no manipulation because it’s like zero-torque, or whatever, and it’s important to get fit for the right lie angle and stuff, because it’s lie-angle balanced and that’s the whole science behind it. So, yeah, it’s been really good for me lately and hopefully it keeps doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”
The putter wasn’t the only star performer of Spaun’s winning birdie-birdie finish. A shout-out has to go to his Titleist GT3 driver, with which he hit one of the best drives in major championship history on the drivable par-4 17th that almost delivered an eagle but set up Spaun’s shortest birdie putt in his closing run of just under 4 feet.
Then under intense pressure, he found the fairway with his driver on the difficult 18th to get him the chance he needed to hang on and win.
Spaun switched to the GT3 in 2024 and his stats have shown the value, improving in strokes gained off the tee from 111th in 2024 to 47th in 2025.
Scott Michaux