Oakmont, Pennsylvania – The third major championship of the season, the US Open, produced the most unlikely champions in the JJ Span.
Spaun was the only golfer to finish in the PAR at 1 under 279, and he was the only survivor of the day when rain and wind made Oakmont even more dangerous.
The final major championship of the season, held at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland from July 17-20, is a month away.
Who is open and will be your favorite? Does Spaun’s unlikely victory drive him to win more? How about the Rider Cup?
What do you expect from JJ Spaun for the rest of the season?
Mark Schlabach: Last season, Spaun missed a cut in 10 of the first 15 starts of the PGA Tour, ranking 169th in the world. He was worried he would lose his tour card.
“It looked like I was going to lose my job last June, when there was the moment: ‘If this was the way I go out, I might be shaken up too,'” Spaun said.
Spaun looks back at things at the end of the summer, and he plays some of the best golfers of his career this year. He finished second in Palm Beach’s Cognizant Classic in February, losing to Rory McIlroy in Monday’s playoffs in the Players Championship. He was close to adding his second career victory on the tour, so he finally managed to achieve it on one of the most challenging golf courses in the world.
“I think it’s just patience,” Spawn said. “I’ve always fought anything, whatever it was, to get where I needed to go and get to what I wanted. I’ve done this before. I’ve had a slump at every level. I’ve always come back. There’s something kind of a bit of a pattern, so hopefully I won’t do that pattern again.”
Spaun’s competitors were not surprised he won the US Open. Spaun may not be that familiar to anyone who doesn’t follow golf closely, but he is considered one of the best ball strikers in the world. His putter heated up in four days at Oakmont, one of the biggest reasons he won.
Paolo Object: At first glance, Spaun may seem like a Fluke Us Open Winner, but this week it’s a testament to his evolution as a player who has been able to make everyone on the field last longer.
As his new coach Josh Gregory was explained in detail following the final round, Spawn could be simply a mid-way PGA Tour player.
“It’s very easy to stay calm and say what I’m doing,” Gregory said. “For his trust, he said, ‘I need to be better.’ ”
For Spawn, who has always been an elite ball striker, it meant working on his putting and his chipping, and Gregory said he helped. This week is proof of the work he put in, and it will set him well for the rest of the year. Now, whenever there is a course that prioritizes iron play, Spaun appears to be able to resort to conversion once he finds green.
Given that Spaun has never played open, the contest in the final majors of the year may be overstated, but we are fully hoping that Spaun will take part in the mix at several PGA Tour events, including the upcoming Tour Championships.
Thoughts about the Ryder Cup after the first three majors of the year?
Schlabach: Captain Keegan Bradley of the US Ryder Cup was greeted with cheers of “America! America!” When he arrives at the 18th Green at the Oakmont Country Club on Sunday, it is a fight cry he frequently hears for the next few months.
Spaun secured a spot in the Ryder Cup with the US Open. He is third in points, tracking only world number one Scotty Scheffler and two-time major winner Xander Schauferle. Bryson Deccanbeau is fourth, followed by Justin Thomas and Morikawa Colin. They are probably rocks to make teams.
In addition to Spaun’s victory, Russell Henley and Ben Griffin were probably the biggest moves at Oakmont. They finished 10th in five overs and are now seventh and eighth in points in the Ryder Cup respectively.
After the BMW Championship on August 17th, the top six players in the point ranking will automatically create a team. Bradley also makes six captain choices.
Objects: Captain Luke Donald is sure he enjoyed watching Victor Hofland get closer to his first major title, Tyrrell Hutton and even John Rahm, carrying himself on his competition and working well. They all finished in the top 10 and would certainly be on Bethpage, even if Rahm and Hofland are currently outside the top 6 in the European rankings.
The person in the top six was Robert McIntyre, who helped him run to second on Sunday, earning his best finish in the majors and slamming his name all the way to the fourth in the Ryder Cup standings.
McIntyre was considered the last man in Rome two years ago, but he held more than he would become his 2-0-1. On this season’s tour, Macintyre has scored four top-10 finishes, and such results on courses like Oakmont certainly bolster his lawsuit and make him a great position to return to the team in September.
Are you thinking too much about the Open Championship?
Schlabach: Schaeffler fought swings and putters on 72 holes at Oakmont, but he came in seventh at 4am for another top-10 finish in the majors. If less than his best, Schaeffler is still better than most, and I think the list of golfers who can compete in the Royal Portrush starts with three major winners.
“My main point is that I fought as hard as I did this week,” Schaeffler said. “I was mentally proud of how I was doing over the course of four days, and I did a lot of things to do with a week of breaks.
Shane Raleigh took home a jug of clarets home in 2019 when the opening was last performed in Northern Ireland. I think he’ll become a favorite again. Laurie struggled hard in his second straight major and missed the cut after posting 79-78.
Rory McIlroy is looking for redemption after missing a cut at Royal Portrush five years ago. He still fought a bit with the driver at Oakmont, but after posting a 3-under 67 on Sunday he went home with some momentum. I think he will get his heart and shake in the right place before he arrives in Northern Ireland.
“Look, if you can’t motivate me to stand up to the open championship at home, I don’t know what will motivate me,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, like I said, I just need to put myself in the right mind frame. I’ve probably never been there in the last few weeks.
“But like I said, if I go home and spend a few weeks off before that, I hopefully get refreshed and rejuvenated and take me to the right place again.”
uggetti: How about the defending champions running in a different run? With everyone on the leaderboard on Sunday, Xander Schauffele quietly put together the standard round and finished within Oakmont’s top 12.
Slowly, but certainly, Schaufele’s match returned to major championship form after missing out on a rib injury early in the season. With his final seven starts, Shaufele has five top-15 finishes.
“I’ve never been injured before, so I think it was everything,” Schaufele said this week. “I felt like I was playing at a pretty high level, and then I got hurt. My expectations for knowing I could do were very different and I accepted that it was tough.
Schaufele is pretty much going back, and it’s fair to say he’s just in time for the second major championship he won last season. The 31-year-old secured a jug of claret with his torne last year, proving that he is excellent not only on the PGA tour setup but also on linking courses with link conditions. Portrush brings these two things to the stage in a month, with Shaufere having the advantage that he previously had won in such an environment.
Besides Spaun, who was the biggest winner in Oakmont?
Schlabach: Viktor Hovland’s swing was confused for most of the season – or at least he believed so, but he managed to get into the mix, reaching third in two overs and third place. Hofland’s inner battle for perfection may prevent him from joining Schaeffler, Schauferle and others as the best golfer in the world, but there is little argument that he is one of the most talented people. Everything is there for him to win some majors at least.
“It’s so cool, so I’m going in the right direction and not feeling very comfortable to get the chance to win a major championship without my best,” Hofland said. “So I’m going to take a lot of positive positivity this week.”
Adam Scott would have preferred a better finish than Sunday’s 9-over-79, but he was right there in the mix until conditions got worse in the second nine. I believed that Scott’s chances of competing in the majors were over at age 44. But this is the first time he’s done it in quite a long time and he may still have something left in the tank to do it again.
uggetti: Now we’re back to McIntyre. The Oban guy looked comfortable in a chaotic state on Sunday, playing a back nine with a bogeyless 2-under at Oakmont, grabbing the clubhouse lead, which made him a playoff with Spawn.
“I’m just a man who believes,” McIntyre said. “Today was the day I told myself, “Why? Would you like to be me today?”
The Scots shut out the lights for a week and ranked fourth in strokes. Putting and despite 74 rounds on Friday, he stayed in a tournament where he predicts there will be more winners.
MacIntyre was pretty much right.
After he finished the round and was able to see Spahn draining a 64-foot birdie to secure a 1-under finish score and victory, the camera caught McIntyre in the scoring room, with Span giving him heartfelt applause and a serious “wow.” It was a human moment, which won many admirations and made McIntyre the week unforgettable.
“It feels good,” McIntyre said he was fighting. “It was something I dreamed of as a kid, I’m going home after seeing all the majors. Yeah, it feels incredible.”