JJ Spaun wins US Open: PGA Tour journeyman’s rise to ‘fairytale’ major glory and Ryder Cup contention | Golf News

JJ SPAUN planned to call time on his companion golf career a few months before his “end of fairy tale” and the major success that changes the life of the US Open.

Spaun has become the new major golf champion with a two -stroke victory at the Oakmont Country Club, where he recovered from a nightmare start to save two out of 72 and ended the week as the only player under the peer, continuing his remarkable increase in the male match.

The 34-year-old man spent years clinging to mini-tours before unraveling the PGA Tour and had not managed to rely on his revolutionary victory at the Valero Texas 2022 Open, justly succeeding in keeping his status full last year.

“Last year in June, I looked like I was going to lose my job, and it was at this point that I had this moment when, if that’s how I go out, I could also go down,” said Spaun. “It’s a kind of mantra that I had all year round.”

The American has kept his PGA Tour card for 2025 and had challenged several times this season without reaching the winner’s circle, with another opportunity that seeks to pass to Oakmont after five Bogeys in the first six holes of his final turn left him five shots.

While the prosecution pack was wasted on a soggy golf course, after a long delay in time, Spaun went through the most difficult test by horating two long -range birdies on its nine to suddenly find itself at the top of the ranking.

After Bob Macintyre produced his own Sunday charge to set the goal of the clubhouse, Spaun followed a two -stroke birdie in the 17th rolling by capping a remarkable victory with a 65 -foot putt – the longest of the week – on the final green to close his victory in style.

“It’s really like a story book, an end of fairy tale, a kind of response from the outsiders, not to abandon, never to stop,” added Spaun. “With the rain and everything, then the putt, you could not write a better story. I’m so lucky to be at the reception of this.

“Just to finish how it is just a dream. You look at other people doing it. You see the tiger [Woods] Chip, you see Nick Taylor’s putt, you see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that in this championship, I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life. “”

“ I’m still there ” – The season of Spaun before major glory

Spaun’s major success raises it to a career summit of World No. 8 – having started the year outside the top 100 of the world – and until the sixth row in the Fedexcup classification, leaving it likely to appear in the PGA Tour end -of -season tour championship for the first time after a memorable campaign.

He took an advance in the last round of the Sony Open in January, where a penultimate Bogey Holes and the peer closure on a par-five left him in the third row and a shot outside the play-off.

Spaun finished the second tied a few weeks later at the Cognizant Classic, after having carded a 66 without Bogey on the last day, before a brilliant performance in the players saw him dragged Rory McILroy in a Monday eliminatory.

He held an advance of 54 holes at TPC Sawgrass and recovered from an oscillation in mid-turn to Birdie two of his last four holes, taking him to the play-off when McILroy blew his late head, but a triple Bogey on the second additional hole put an end to his hopes.

SPAUN also made solid departures with opening cycles of 66 and 67 respectively at the RBC Heritage and Trist Championship, both of the signature events on the PGA Tour, while he left a 66-68 start to a semi-finals on equality at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

“I have always been there,” said Spaun. “Everyone knows that the more you go, the better you will have results and the better you will play, then end up transforming one of these nearby calls in victory.

“The players were a kind of spring in self-confidence because it was not as if I worked. You may be simulating it at the Sony and Cognizant or anything, but to do it to the players, a course where I had never done well historically …

“To go head to head with Rory on Sunday, then the play-off was great for my confidence. Unfortunately, I did not win, but it was great for me to look at this experience and know that I can play on the biggest stages and manage it with pressure.”

Spaun prevails on the historic Sunday

Spaun recorded six bogeys in his last round, the most by a winner of the US Open since Hale Irwin in 1979, when he became the first player on the 40 card in the nine of adults and victory since the success of Ernie Els in 2002 at the Open.

He had already made the front page of the newspapers earlier in the week by being the only player to take a tour without Bogey on the head of the first round head, the Spaun using the start of the weather on the last day to reset after what had already been a hectic Sunday.

“I was running at CVS (pharmacy) in the city center because my daughter had a stomach bug and I vomited all night,” admitted Spaun about her final preparation. “My wife was standing at 3 am and she is like” purple (girl) vomits everywhere, she cannot keep anything “.

“It was a bit of a difficult start in the morning. I did not blame that on my departure, but it was somehow corresponded to the mold of what was going on, chaos.

“As bad as things happened, I have always tried to get involved every time. I tried to continue to dig deeply. I made it all my life.

“I think it was the biggest difference that this year was to be able to do it. Fortunately, I dug very deeply on the nine rear, and things happened, and here we are with the trophy.”

More to come? ‘He will be in this team from Ryder Cup’

The victory also jumps him third in the qualification classification of the Ryder Cup before this year’s competition at Bethpage Black, putting him in the automatic qualification points planned for the beginnings of the American team.

Keegan Bradley’s team will seek to find the Trophy against Team Europe after losing in Rome in 2023, with the former Captain of the Ryder Cup, Paul McGinley, to be a solid addition to the American ranks.

“I said that I hope in some ways that he does not win, because he will be in this team from the Ryder Cup,” said McGinley Golf channel. “It is how impressed I impressed with him and looked at him closely.

“The reactions of other players tell you how popular someone is and for Tyrrell (Hatton) and Bob McIntyre, guys like that, who remember Europeans, to be really happy for a guy like that in his moment tells you that he is a popular guy.

“Second, his golf swing, for me, I would almost say that it could be the best of the game. It’s so good. I love the way he swings it.”

SPAUN may have taken the time to prove to the world-and to itself its true potential, but he has now delivered the biggest scene. With his golf status assured for the years to come, he can continue to move forward.

Look at JJ Spaun in PGA Tour Action throughout the 2025 season live on Sky Sports. Get Sky Sports or disseminate without a contract now.