{"id":490632,"date":"2026-02-19T17:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/490632\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:54:11","slug":"j-j-spaun-had-to-turn-down-this-usga-request-for-a-very-understandable-reason-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/490632\/","title":{"rendered":"J.J. Spaun had to turn down this USGA request for a very understandable reason \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

J.J. Spaun\u2019s L.A.B. DF3 putter, which he used to hole a 64-foot birdie putt to win the US Open at Oakmont last June, belongs in a museum.<\/p>\n

Just not yet.<\/p>\n

Spaun, speaking at Riviera in his hometown of Los Angeles on Wednesday, says he still has much more work to do with the zero-torque wand, one he tossed in the air in celebration on the 72nd green. Thankfully, his caddie, Mark Carens, retrieved it and could be seen holding it in the same hand he had pointed toward the sky while embracing his boss. Carens later explained he was pointing toward the heavens in remembrance of his deceased father, Ed, who \u201cgave us a good read.\u201d It made for an indelible image. Speaking of things that belong in a museum.<\/p>\n

RELATED: \u2018Advancing the game\u2019: LIV Golf teams up with R&A and USGA \u2013 here\u2019s why<\/a><\/p>\n

While that photo might already be in the USGA\u2019s museum, Spaun\u2019s putter is not. Though not for lack of effort on the USGA\u2019s part. The US Open champ revealed on Wednesday that he was asked to donate the custom flat-stick. Understandably, he had to turn down the USGA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, unfortunately, I can\u2019t,\u201d Spaun said. \u201cThat thing is not ready to be retired, especially after that putt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fair enough. The USGA then asked for the next-best club, Spaun\u2019s Titleist GT3 driver, which he used to drive the 17th green in the final round, setting up a two-putt birdie that gave him a one-shot lead with a hole remaining. That was an easier get.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second probably most valuable club, I think, was my driver,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I actually had switched to a newer head, meaning, like, it was probably getting close to its limit. It ended up being kind of unusable anyway, so I donated that, and I think they were pretty happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a bad consolation prize at all. And perhaps someday Spaun\u2019s L.A.B. will be right alongside it. That day is not today.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Anthony Kim jumps 600-plus(!) spots in the World Ranking. What are his chances of qualifying for this year\u2019s majors?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.J. Spaun\u2019s L.A.B. DF3 putter, which he used to hole a 64-foot birdie putt to win the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,755,138747,222979,1745,15812,247875,44,39497,247876,85,247877,1751],"class_list":{"0":"post-490632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-golf-digest","13":"tag-golf-gear","14":"tag-golf-news","15":"tag-j-j-spaun","16":"tag-l-a-b-df3","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-pga","19":"tag-riviera","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-titleist-gt3","22":"tag-us-open"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}