OAKMONT, Pa. — JJ Span survived a terrible start and challenging element to win his first major championship in a two-stroke victory at the 125th US Open at the Oakmont Country Club on Sunday.
After winning a one-stroke lead over the 17th hole, Spaun made a 64½-foot birdie putt on the 18th to secure his unlikely victory, defeating Scotland’s Robert Macintyre twice.
After Spaun’s long putt fell into the cup, he dropped the putter, raised his arms and gave the crowd a fist pump. He embraced Caddy Mark Cullens and later accepted his wife Melody and two young daughters.
Spaun said he didn’t look at the scoreboard when he walked the 18th fairway, as he didn’t want to know if he had a two-stroke lead.
“I knew what the crowd was saying, and I knew I felt if I cut twice, I would probably win,” Spaun said. “But I didn’t want to watch because I didn’t want to defend, I didn’t want to do anything stupid.
“Around 8 feet away, I went up to the high side to see if it could go in. It was like getting in right away.
Spaun was the only golfer to finish in the PAR with a 1 under 279. He posted a 2-over 72 on Sunday, reaching 3 under on the back nine. Spaun will raise $4.3 million against the biggest payday of his career.
MacIntyre, who was about to become the first left-handed golfer to win the US Open, finished 281 over.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland finished third with 282.
Spaun grabbed the full lead with even pearls by reaching green on a 309-yard drive to the short PAR-4 No. 17th hole. His eagle slid past the hole from 18 feet, but he made a 3½-foot birdie putt to lead on one stroke.
On hole 18, Spaun drove the tee and shot it in the right side of the fairway. As he prepared to hit a second shot, Rain began to fall on the soaked course. Spaun reached his approach 64½ feet and set up a dramatic finish.
England’s Tyrrell Hutton was talking to reporters when Spawn made the winning putt.
“He stopped it,” Hutton said. “Incredible. What a winning putt. That’s incredible.”
When Hatton was asked what Spaun was probably feeling, he said, “In shock, I guess. Incredible. Fair play.”
Spaun started just one stroke behind 54 hole leader Sam Burns, but dragged up to four times after carding Bogeys in five holes of the first six holes.
Spaun, 34, is the first US Open winner to start the final round with three consecutive holes in the PAR, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He is the fifth champion to finish birdie bye di on the final two holes.
“It felt as bad as things were going, so I was still trying to commit to every shot,” Spaun said. “I just tried to dig deeper. I’ve been doing it for the rest of my life.”
Spaun said the weather delays will help him reset after such a bad start. One of his coaches, Josh Gregory, told him he was “working hard.”
“That’s what I was doing,” Spawn said. “I felt like I had a really good chance to win the US Open at the beginning of the day. It solved it very quickly. But that break was actually the key to winning this tournament.”
It was the biggest moment of Spawn’s career. The only PGA Tour victory from Los Angeles took place at the 2022 Valero Texas Open. Ranked 25th in the official world golf rankings, Spaun played some of the best golf of his career this year. He was two runner-up this season and lost to Rory McIlroy in the playoffs in the Players Championship.
It was a wild finish in the final round at Oakmont Country Club. This includes 96 minutes of weather delays and steady rain, making it one of the toughest golf courses in the world.
“Look, that wasn’t easy,” said Australia’s Adam Scott. “Everything is equal. It’s a US Sunday, one of the most difficult setups, and the conditions were the most difficult of the week. I’m grateful that this wasn’t the case for the whole week.”
Six golfers had at least a lead share in the final round, and at one point five were first tied up.
MacIntyre had a chance to reach par, but left a 33-foot birdie try, shortening it a few feet on the 18th and settled at 2-under 68 in the final round.
While Macintyre signed the scorecard, one of the four golfers was tied up in one, Hutton shot two shots from the greenside bunker and made a bogey on the 17th.
Burns, the 54-hole leader who saw control on the front nine, defeated two strokes twice when he made his second bogey on No. 15.
Scott, who was about to win his first major since the 2013 Masters, is no. When I carded consecutive bogeys at 14 and 15, I fell out of my tie first.
After Spaun’s unforgettable start, he made five straight pars and made a 40½-foot putt for birdie on the par 5, then moved first to a five-way tie in one over.
The 22-foot birdie on the par 4 14th gave the perfect lead with a uniform par, one stroke, in front of Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, Hutton, Scott and Burns.
“It was incredible,” Hofland said. “After his start, he seemed to be coming out of it right away. Everyone was back in the pack. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought I had to shoot a 3-under par today to really get a chance, but the conditions were obviously really, really tough.
Burns looked like control heading towards the back nine. He was the only golfer to fall below par at 2 under, turning in 3 over 38 and picking up a birdie with a par 4-foot putt before two strokes Scott.
Burns then caught two unfortunate breaks on the 11th. His drive landed in a muddy divot on the first cut, changing his second shot. His ball ended with a thick, rough roughness of the bump above the fairway bunker. Burns needed three more shots to get on the green, resulting in a double bogey six dropping him to par.
Burns continued his mistake on the 12th with a bogey and dropped him into a five-way tie for first.
Burns finished in the seventh tie in the fourth over, along with world No. 1 Scotty Schaeffler and John Lahm.