Open and shut: What-ifs will haunt Spieth

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Adam Scott is back on the leaderboard at The Riviera Country Club with a new putter in hand. Scott, winner of The Genesis Invitational just two years ago, was in third place after Friday’s morning wave thanks to rounds of 68 and 65. He gained approximately four strokes on the greens in the first two rounds to rank fourth in the field in that metric when he walked off the golf course. Unlike most of his peers on the leaderboard, Scott doesn’t use a conventional length putter, or putting style. Instead of letting both of his hands hang in front of his body, as per tradition, he grips his elongated putter like a broomstick with his left hand up by his sternum. While Scott has spent most of his recent years with the same Scotty Cameron prototype putter in the bag, he recently switched into an L.A.B. Golf “Mezz.1 Proto” putter ahead of last week’s WM Phoenix Open. (Scott’s other recent switch is into Titleist 681.AS irons. More on that here) L.A.B., which stands for “Lie Angle Balance,” crafts putters that are designed to reduce torque and twisting throughout the stroke. Scott has experimented with the company’s original Directed Force head shape in the past, but the newly developed Mezz.1 Proto has a more palatable look for him. “I had experimented with their putters; in 2019, I used a shorter version of their original design for a few weeks on Tour and I like the technology,” Scott told the media on Friday following his round. “They’ve designed a new shaped head, which I think is more appealing than the old one, and the performance is good. Obviously, that’s why I’m using it. I like what it does for me.” The winged shape of the putter helps to enhance forgiveness across the face, and the sole of the head comes with 20 weights to ensure the head is properly weighted for Scott’s longer build. “The whole concept is lie-angle balanced,” Scott explained. “I’m not smart enough to explain the physics of it, but it swings very nicely.” Since most golfers swing the putter on some degree of an arc, L.A.B.’s lie-angle balance design is intended to keep the putter face square to that arc. With less twisting of the face compared to more conventional putters, the idea is to create greater consistency and stability. So far – through two rounds, at least – the technology and the switch appear to be working.

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