It rather pains us that JJ Spaun won the US Open and we took it less sportingly than the man he pipped, Robert MacIntyre. Yes, MacIntyre narrowly missed out on a first major and the first-place prize of $4.3m (the poor thing had to make do with the $2.3m he got for second). But we backed Spaun at 100/1… unfortunately, that was for the US PGA Championship back in May!
Anyway, enough about that, let’s return to Spaun and the US Open. After four days of quite brutal golf, the American ended as the only player under par and thoroughly deserved to claim his maiden major. He clinched it in memorable style too, sinking a mammoth putt on the 72nd hole, a feat all the more remarkable given the undulating, glass-like greens of Oakmont that had proved so testing all week.
Needing to two-putt from fully 64 feet to finish on 280, level par – the score that it is suggested the organisers believe “should” win the tournament – Spaun was far more likely to require three strokes than he was to hole it. Watching on, MacIntyre no doubt hoped that he would be involved in a play-off but so spectacular, so impressive, was Spaun’s effort, that all the Scot could do was applaud. His show of sporting grace received many plaudits and he was recorded mouthing “Wow” as he clapped, rather capturing the feeling of golf fans everywhere.
It was an incredible way to win any tournament, let alone a major championship, let alone your first major. Spaun is not a name that occasional golf fans will be familiar with. But that will change now and the American has jumped from 26 in the world rankings to eighth, the first time in his career he has made the top 10. Given he began the 2025 season ranked 115, that is quite the jump and his trajectory is very much upwards.
Photo credit: John Kaminski, flickr.
Who is JJ Spaun?
Before we look in a little more detail at how JJ scooped easily the biggest paycheque of his career, let’s first provide a bit of info on the player himself. John Michael Spaun Jr is a 34-year-old who was born in LA but now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona – home to TPC Scottsdale and the Phoenix Open and a well-known golf resort and destination.
He turned pro back in 2012 and claimed a win on the Tour of Canada in 2015 and then on the Web.com Tour in 2016. His first, and until this gargantuan leap forward, only, win on the full PGA Tour came at the 2022 Valero Texas Open. Spaun marked his rookie season on the main tour in 2016/17 and he made a solid start to life among the big boys, notching up three top 10s.
Twelve months later he had managed a further four, finishing 62nd in the FedEx Cup standings. He ended 2018 ranked 110th in the world and seemed like a player who had the potential to make a real impact. However, his year-end rankings for the next three seasons were 282, 476 and 291 and it seemed like it might not happen for the father of two, as he lost his tour card in 2020/21.
Having dropped out of the top 500 in the world at one stage he stated that he “was just playing bad, like I was lost. I didn’t know where my swing was, I didn’t know what to do.” However, he managed to steady the ship and since then managed to establish himself around the top 100 in the world. Until 2025.
His progress this season has truly been remarkable, with sharper approach play and better driving underpinned by a better mental approach. He spoke of the impact of his coach after the win at Oakmont but this season he has just somehow managed to relax and avoid being too focussed on the results. This helped him deliver some incredible performances and he has just ridden the wave of momentum.
He has spoken about never previously feeling like he was an elite golfer, or that he could compete with the very best. He said he was, and still is, unaware of where his ceiling is but it now seems that it is far higher than he, or we, thought it was a year ago. After 54 holes at this year’s US Open he spoke about how previously he would have viewed a 10-year career on tour with the occasional win as a very good outcome, whereas now he thought “who knows, the sky’s the limit”.
Spaun’s US Open Win
| Position | Player | Score | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.J. Spaun | -1 (279) | $4.3m |
| 2 | Robert MacIntyre | +1 (281) | $2.32m |
| 3 | Viktor Hovland | +2 (282) | $1.46m |
| =4 | Tyrrell Hatton | +3 (283) | $879k |
| =4 | Carlos Ortiz | +3 (283) | $879k |
| =4 | Cameron Young | +3 (283) | $879k |
| =7 | Sam Burns | +4 (284) | $616k |
| =7 | Sam Burns | +4 (284) | $616k |
| =7 | Scottie Scheffler | +4 (284) | $616k |
| =10 | Ben Griffin | +5 (285) | $486k |
| =10 | Russell Henley | +5 (285) | $486k |
The humble and likeable Californian came very close to making a huge breakthrough earlier this year when led the Players Championship, unofficially the fifth major, going into the final round. In the end, he lost to Rory McIlroy in a play-off, but earned almost $3m and moved up to a career-high of 25th in the world rankings.
Fast-forward a few months and he came into the final round at the third major of the year one shot back. A brilliant 66 on Thursday, which ended up being the only round of the whole tournament to pass without a bogey – or worse – gave him the lead, and was followed by a 72 on Friday. On Saturday he managed a very solid 69 to set himself up for a real crack at glory on Sunday.
He got off to a slow start, to say the least, and with five bogeys on the first six holes he reached the turn in 40. However, he was not alone in dropping shots and so managed to stay in touch. He was superb, really, from the seventh hole onwards, managing five straight pars before playing the final seven holes in three under, making four birdies.
His putter was hot on the closing stretch, as best embodied by that glorious effort on 18, but between holes 12 and 18 he holed putts with a cumulative distance of 137 feet. That included two birdie efforts from 40 feet and 22 feet as he overtook the rest and managed to finish just the right side of par.
He showed great nerves too, with matters not helped by a rain delay of an hour and a half – far from ideal when trying to close out your first big win. MacIntyre finished second but 54-hole leader Sam Burns fell away late on, dropping from +1 to +6 in the final five holes to finish T7, level with pre-tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler, and Jon Rahm. There were further decent efforts from Europeans, with Viktor Hovland third and Tyrell Hatton tied for fourth but it was all about Spaun in the end.