Offered here is an amazing find - Tiger Woods' personal 1995-1997 Newport Tour putter. This putter was made by Scotty Cameron for Tiger Woods during either Tiger's amateur days or very early in his professional career.
Vog says: This putter had been locked away in a collection for 20 years. It came to us as part of an estate, so we didn't know any back story on it. The prior owner wasn't very good at making notes or keeping COAs, so we submitted it to Scotty's studio last year. When the COA came back, the putter received an "A" COA from Scotty indicating that everything was original and authentic, including finish and stampings. But - the COA made no reference to the "T.W." initials on the putter! The studio has been reluctant to put player names on COAs in recent years, but this was an important mystery to solve.
The T.W. stamps were determined to not be aftermarket (they look like the chunky font stamps Scotty was using and have seen many times from 1996-1998) and the stamps are clearly not the font used by the custom shop when individuals send in a putter for customization. I also know that in early 1997 after Tiger won his 3rd US Amateur, turned pro and won early on tour, Scotty brought about 8 to 10 different cool putters to the Edwin Watts store on Turkey Lake drive in Orlando when he was on-site at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. The store had a vintage wood and glass display they used to show off these putters. There was some great stuff - and many of the old school Cameron collectors of the late 1990's and 2000's visited that store every time they were in town. There was a Japanese Scottydale stamped Tiger on the face. There was a cool handmade from 1993 I was allowed to buy with Scotty's approval almost a decade later. There was a tour Coronado with big stamps, and there was a Newport Pro Platinum as well that as I remembered, had the initials....T.W. I believed this putter to be the one in the case years ago. Whether this putter was truly a Tiger backup made for him before he turned pro, or a putter Scotty made up for display at Edwin Watts for display there, or perhaps another display putter Scotty made over the years, we might have never known for sure.
I decided to consult the Cameron Collector website that I owned and operated with the help of a multitude of fellow collectors from 2007 to 2009, as I had written about the Edwin Watts display case many times 15 years ago. I found several different posts; in all, I referred to a Newport Pro Platinum stamped "TIGER" not T.W. My memory had faded a bit, almost 28 years after I first saw that putter. So I came to the conclusion this was NOT the display putter.
Despondent, I used the COA search tool on the Cameron Collector site to search for putters in the registry with "Tiger" in the COA notes, a feature that Scotty's registry site does not offer. Lo and behold, I found a putter in the registry - A008326 - one just like this one. I looked at the initials - appeared to be the same size and style, and looked to be in the same spot as the putter we are auctioning. Taking a closer look at the pictures on the registry site, I noticed the tiniest of nicks on the front of the neck, heel side, not quite halfway up the neck. Looking at this putter - I see the same nick. Then I look at the sole, and on both putters, there is the same dark blemish on the line on the sole between Scotty Cameron and Titleist - right under the "O" in Cameron. I am 100% sure we're not talking about two similar putters, they are one and the same, the putter previously authenticated as "made for Tiger." Yes, in the COA notes for A008326, the first issued COA for this putter, it states it was made for Tiger Woods himself. Mystery solved!
Condition is 9.5 out of 10, with the previously mentioned very minor blemishes on sole/neck, 35", with yellow Circle T studio design headcover.
An extraordinarily rare chance to own one of Tiger Woods' personal early career Scotty Cameron putters.
Certificate of Authenticity from Scotty Cameron