JJ Spaun’s US Open victory was remarkable for a variety of reasons.
Incredibly, he finished in red figures, despite the weather, conditions, set-up and all-round brutish examination that the USGA set at Oakmont.
We look at some of the behind-the-curtain factors that saw the 34-year-old Californian prevail at the 125th US Open.
1. No leaderboard watching
This always feels like a bit of psycho jumble but Spaun actually managed to avoid looking at the giant leaderboards all over Oakmont. Coming to THAT putt on the 72nd green he genuinely didn’t know what the situation was.
In the end he got a great read from playing partner Viktor Hovland. Coming into this week he hadn’t holed a putt over 35 feet – he then holed a 65-footer to win the US Open.
“I didn’t look at the scoreboard. I knew based off of what the crowd was saying that I felt like, if I two-putted, I would probably win, but I didn’t want to play defensive. I didn’t know if I had a two-shot lead. I didn’t want to do anything dumb trying to protect a three-putt.
“We got a good line, a good read on the speed. I was more focused on how hard he (Viktor) was hitting it. I knew the line already, but it looked like he gave it a pretty good whack because it started raining there for the last 10, 15 minutes.
“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 eight feet out, I 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.”
WHAT A PUTT!!!!
J.J. SPAUN WINS THE U.S. OPEN!!!! pic.twitter.com/EWdYQeDAzF
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2025
2. A repeat of 2022
Coming into the US Open JJ Spaun had played in 235 PGA Tour events and won once, at the Valero Texas Open in 2022. Then he had a similar helping hand from a playing partner which helped him across the line.
Then it came via a bunker shot from Scott Stallings, who was out of contention, but still played a part in his maiden victory.
“It’s pretty ironic, Scott Stallings was in a bunker on the last hole, we were in the same group, the back left bunker, and I hit my third shot on the back fringe, and I had to literally mark my ball for him to hit the bunker shot. He, same thing, splashed it out, right on my line, and just like fed it down to the hole. It was probably like a 40-footer.
“When I was walking up to 18, I was thinking about that moment. I was like, Oh, my God, like this is meant to be here, because this is the same thing that happened to me for my first win.”
3. A Tiger-like bad break
This will almost be forgotten given what happened at the 72nd hole but Spaun had a particularly rough piece of luck at the 2nd hole when his approach shot struck the pin.
After opening up with a bogey he followed it up with another and there were two more at the 4th and 5th. Any other day we could write this player off and put it down, partly, to some bad luck.
“We had 90-100 yards maybe, maybe less. But it was like a perfect kind of flighted chip sand wedge because it’s straight into the wind and how soft it was. I hit it perfect, and it was right at it.
“All I heard is like a really loud like, Oh! It wasn’t like a good one. So I was like, What the hell? Did that hit the pin or something? I didn’t even think it hit the pin. When I saw it coming off the green with that much speed, I’m like, that had to have hit the pin.
“Then I’m walking up there, fixing my pitchmark that was a foot short of the pin, and everyone was like, ’it hit the pin’. During the delay I went and watched my thing and it was just really unlucky. It was pretty much a two-shot swing.”
You gotta be kidding!
J.J. Spaun gets a horrible break on 2, hitting the flagstick and coming way backwards. pic.twitter.com/Egs9hcz35l
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
4. One year ago…
This time last year Spaun had missed eight of his first 13 starts on Tour with a best finish of T26. He had already lost his card in 2021 and it looked like he was going back to the Korn Ferry again. But he then began to play most weekends and he finished the season with a couple of top 10s. Then came the play-off at Sawgrass and now this.
“Last year in June I was looking like I was going to lose my job, and that was when I had that moment where, if this is how I go out, I might as well go down swinging. That’s kind of how my coach tells me about my golf shots or my golf swing on the course.
“If there’s a challenging shot, he’s like, at least you go down committing to the shot. Don’t bail one out right because you feel uncomfortable, just go down swinging. You might as well put the swing you want on it, and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. That’s kind of the mantra I’ve been having all year.”
5. He was up all night
Had Spaun finished 10th we never would have know a few more of his details. As it turned out he was up with a poorly child which saw him make an early dash to a pharmacy instead of focusing on the biggest day of his golfing life.
“I was running to CVS in downtown because my daughter had a stomach bug and was vomiting all night long. I was just like, OK, my wife was up at 3am, and she’s like, Violet is vomiting all over. She can’t keep anything down. It was kind of a rough start to the morning. I’m not blaming that on my start, but it kind of fit the mould of what was going on, the chaos.”
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