Justin Thomas is using a Scotty Cameron that he’s owned since … middle school

Golfers are a nostalgic bunch, and PGA TOUR players are no exception. We all look back with fondness at certain clubs that have been a part of our set. Some beloved clubs stay in the bag for decades. Others make a return after a lengthy hiatus.

This week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, while several of the TOUR’s top names are debuting the latest technology available in the new year, Justin Thomas is putting a club from his junior golf days back in his bag.

Thomas is putting on the Plantation Course’s sloping surfaces with a Scotty Cameron Circle T 303 SSS blade putter that he’s owned since high school. Thomas often travels with the putter, however, and uses it in practice. Now, like that late-round draft pick from a Division II school, this flatstick is being called up off the practice squad for some meaningful reps in an important competition.

“I use this one whenever I have a lot of time off and I kind of get bored,” Thomas said after carding a 3-under 70 at the Sentry on Thursday. “If I don’t have a tournament for a while, and I go on a boys’ trip and take a backup set of clubs, I just throw this in there. Any time it’s not real serious golf, or vacation, I’ll just bring this. I’ve won with it in college; I have good memories. I probably got it in high school.”

The putter’s last competitive round before Thursday?

“Freshman year of college, I think,” Thomas said. That was more than a decade ago.

So how did this backup make the jump to the Sentry? The first PGA TOUR event of 2023 features 17 of the top 20 players in the world, an increased purse ($15 million) and extra FedExCup points to the winner (550, up 50 from last year). It’s decidedly serious, and Thomas estimates that he has “probably 30 or 40” putters to choose from. This one, though, had been making noise of late.

“I just had been putting well with it at home,” he said. “My tendencies have gotten so much better the last two years, and the bad tendencies I had that were exposed with this putter, I still have them, but I can get away with them a bit better. More than anything, you putt with what feels good in your hands, and this feels good in my hands right now, so I’m not going to fight it.”

The Sentry is one of Thomas’ favorite events. He’s won this event twice (2017, ’20) and shares the course record on the Plantation Course, a 61 he shot in the third round last year. His opening round Thursday was marred by a double-bogey on the 17th hole, and, playing in the last tee time of the day alongside Xander Schauffele, he did not putt well, finishing 28th (of 39 players) in Strokes Gained: Putting.

“It was fine,” he said before heading out to the practice green. “I missed two inside six feet but made four outside 10 feet. The greens were not very good this afternoon, so it was hard to get true rolls.”

This is the latest change for Thomas, who changed putters several times last year as he sought to find the flatstick that would allow him to take advantage of his incredible iron play. Thomas ranked eighth in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green last season – his sixth consecutive season ranking in the top 10 of that stat – but 85th in Strokes Gained: Putting.

The traditional, sleek blade design may seem completely out of left field for Thomas, who’s mostly used a dual-winged mallet since 2016, but he did win the 2015 CIMB Classic using a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Timeless GSS 350 blade putter. Last year saw Thomas make several high-profile putter switches. He was spotted at last January’s Farmers Insurance Open with a Scotty Cameron X5 Tour mallet with a short slant neck. That was no surprise at the time since Thomas had been using the custom mallet putter since 2016.

When May came around, however, Thomas switched into an ultra-custom Scotty Cameron T5 Proto putter, featuring a knuckle plumbers’ neck to stabilize his stroke, and a custom aluminum plate in the back of the putter to change the sound at impact. It was a true 1-of-1 design. That’s the putter he used to win last year’s PGA Championship, as well.

Fast forward to the BMW Championship, and Thomas switched yet again into an even newer 1-of-1 Scotty Cameron T5 Proto mallet putter. This one still had a custom knuckle neck and sound-enhancing back plate, but it measured just 34 inches (a half-inch shorter than his standard build). It also had an all-new “JT” engraving and darker red colorway.

Thomas ended the year right back where he started with his longtime Scotty Cameron X5 Tour mallet with the short slant neck. He used this putter in the Hero World Challenge, The Match, and the PNC Championship to close out 2022. But, as we all know, the start of a new year is a perfect time to make a change. How long will this change last? We’ll have to wait and see.