OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | With a beautiful blend of teardrops and raindrops on his cheeks, J.J. Spaun stood in the moment too big to dream as the noise, the coming darkness and the U.S. Open engulfed him.
The look on Spaun’s 34-year-old face, usually a mask of stoicism on the golf course no matter the moment, betrayed his disbelief as the roars echoed off Oakmont’s famous green-and-white clubhouse, down the 18th fairway and across the turnpike that bisects the meanest golf course in the land.
At the end of a grueling U.S. Open examination no player seemed capable of unlocking, Spaun’s 64-foot birdie putt across Oakmont’s lumpy 18th green tumbled into the hole, instantly becoming one of the most dramatic finishing flourishes in the history of the American national championship.
Spaun may not have the career profile of previous U.S. Open winners at Oakmont – the names of Hogan, Nicklaus, Miller and Johnson practically roll off the tongue – but he found what each of them did before him.
He took every punch Oakmont threw at him – Spaun bogeyed five of his first six holes on Sunday to seemingly become an afterthought as the final round unfolded under threatening skies – and he never surrendered.
Spaun’s career may lack sparkle – he had just one PGA Tour victory before Sunday – but his game is built on the fundamentals that are best applied in U.S. Opens. He is one of the game’s most consistent ball strikers, has a relentless spirit and he seemed to walk through the literal and figurative storm that covered Oakmont on Sunday.
“That was unbelievable. After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately.”
Viktor Hovland
“That was unbelievable. After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately,” said Viktor Hovland, who played alongside Spaun and finished third, three strokes behind.
Three months ago, Spaun lost a playoff to Rory McIlroy at the Players Championship, his first brush with winning one of the game’s biggest events. He didn’t lose at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course. McIlroy beat him.
This time, the moment belonged to Spaun, who finished at 1-under-par 279, two ahead of Robert MacIntyre.
Competitors say it all the time – just give them a chance. That’s what Spaun did Sunday when it felt like everyone was in retreat. He shot 5-over-par 40 on the front nine but stayed close enough because no one else could do much better.
The final two pairings – Spaun/Hovland and Sam Burns/Adam Scott – were a combined 14-over par on the front nine Sunday.
Early in the back nine, five players – Spaun, Burns, Scott, Carlos Ortiz and Tyrrell Hatton – were tied for the lead and they had collectively made three birdies in the final round.
Spaun found himself falling back on the advice his coach Josh Gregory had given him during the 96-minute rain delay that interrupted the final round.
“They were just like, dude, just chill,” Spaun said. “If you were given four shots back going into the back nine on [the preceding] Monday, like you would take that. They just said, just let it come to you, be calm. Stop trying so hard.”
After a birdie at 14 to tie the lead, Spaun didn’t let a bogey at the 15th derail him. He took the lead with an exquisite tee shot on the drivable par-4 17th, his ball scaring the hole as it rolled past, leaving a routine two-putt birdie to take the outright lead with one hole to play.
Making the long, rainy walk up the hill to the 18th green, Spaun thought back to his lone PGA Tour victory at the 2022 Valero Texas Open. In that win, he had gotten a look at Scott Stallings’ putt on the final green, using it as a guide to seal his victory.
At Oakmont, Spaun had the luxury of watching Hovland putt first from the almost identical line on the 18th green. Hovland ran his putt past the hole, having needed to make it to have any chance of getting into a playoff.
Spaun poured his putt into the history books.
“I just tried to pick my line and put a good stroke on it. I knew it was going to be a little slow. About 8 feet out, I kind of went up to the high side to see if it had a chance of going in, and it was like going right in. I was just in shock, disbelief that it went in and it was over.”
U.S. Opens are, by nature, inelegant affairs, golf’s version of road work, and Oakmont is the ideal stage, outfitted this time in fields of overgrown bluegrass and mud. Oakmont has all of the warmth of an icy Pittsburgh night and wears its reputation as proudly as Steelers fans carry the memories of the Steel Curtain all those years ago.
Oakmont excels at exasperation and while its fire was suppressed by the persistent rain, it nevertheless delivered enough broken glass to soothe even the darkest par-protecting soul. Some may argue about the artistic integrity of Oakmont’s razor-wire personality but there is no denying that it asks more hard questions than any other major championship venue.
“There was no faking, there was no hiding since Thursday. I think that’s what I’ve been able to overcome. I’m not trying to shy away from the moment.”
J.J. Spaun
Technically, this U.S. Open was played over four days but it looked and felt like it lasted a lifetime. Rounds stretched toward six hours on Thursday and Friday and the rain delay on Sunday only added to the drip, drip, drip pace.
The final day wasn’t so much waiting for a player to grab this U.S. Open around the neck as much as wring it out.
Spaun was that player.
Born and raised in southern California to a mother who played golf while she was eight months pregnant with John Michael “J.J.” Spaun, the winner wasn’t a country club kid. He didn’t go to golf academies. He was a walk-on at San Diego State University.
After the 2020 season, Spaun was relegated to the Korn Ferry Tour and had to regain his PGA Tour privileges in 2021.
“I wasn’t really groomed to be a professional golfer,” Spaun said.
Midway through 2024, Spaun was in danger of losing his tour card again. He trusted what he was doing and made peace with the idea that if he was to go down, he’d go down doing it his way.
“There was no faking, there was no hiding since Thursday. I think that’s what I’ve been able to overcome. I’m not trying to shy away from the moment. Like I just tell myself, if I can do this when there’s no pressure or no lead, like why can’t I do it when there is?” Spaun said.
Sunday evening, with the rain down to a soft drizzle and a buzz still in the western Pennsylvania air, Spaun sat with the silver U.S. Open trophy at his right hand and with nothing left to prove.
E-MAIL RON
Top: J.J. Spaun hits his final tee shot right down the middle, setting up his heroics on the green.
KATHRYN RILEY, COURTESY USGA