Tiger Woods’ Newport 2 GSS is considered to be the most important (and recognizable) putter that master craftsman Scotty Cameron has ever created. Aside from the 14 major victories, the putter marked the beginning of the popular “cherry bombs” — a calling card of sorts that helped put Cameron’s creations on the map.
If Woods’ Newport 2 is the king of the putter mountain, an argument could be made that his Newport Teryllium TeI3 — also known as the putter used to lap the field at the 1997 Masters — is the wand that commenced the Cameron craze. Not the Newport 2 GSS. It came around at a time when Woods’ popularity was on a meteoric rise and literally anything he played or wore became a must-have item.
Both putters warrant inclusion when ranking Cameron’s most important designs. They’re also incredibly easy to reel off because they happen to be tied to the greatest golfer of the modern era. Still, they aren’t the original that put Cameron on the map. That honor would belong to Bernhard Langer’s “Classic I” — a shoo-in for any Cameron putter list.
The putter not only helped Langer win his second green jacket at the 1993 Masters, but it also placed Cameron’s CNC-milled creations firmly in the spotlight.
It’s a piece of putter history — and it can be yours for the right price. Langer’s Classic I is on the auction block at Golden Age Golf Auctions where it currently sits at just over $44,000 with roughly a week to go. It feels like a steal for a Masters-winning putter tied to Cameron’s legacy.
Up until 1993, Cameron manufactured and designed putters for other brands, including Maxfli, Ray Cook and Mizuno, and had just started selling a line of Classic putters under the Cameron Golf International name. During his time on Tour, Cameron managed to convince Langer to use one of his putters, an Anser-style “pre-Titleist” Classic I prototype that featured Cameron’s name on the face and Langer’s initials on the toe.
When Langer won the Masters, Mizuno received credit for the victory. According to Golden Age Golf Auctions, by the time the 1994 Tournament of Champions at La Costa rolled around, Cameron was gaining traction on Tour and “did not want Mizuno to keep showing up on the Darrell Survey that tracked manufacturers’ clubs being used at each PGA Tour event.” So he stamped five X’s over the Mizuno branding to conceal the manufacturer’s name.
That same year, Cameron met former Acushnet Company CEO Wally Uihlein and partnered with Titleist. The rest, as they say, is history.
The piece of Cameron history available for auction comes with a green cover and a COA stating the putter was used by Langer to win the 1993 Masters. In terms of Masters-winning equipment, it really doesn’t get better than the Classic I — a putter that eventually spawned the Newport we all know today.
Just be prepared to spend in a big way if you want to own this classic.
