Oakmont, Pa.-Die Us Open, the third big championship of the season, produced the most unlikely champion in JJ Spaun, who won two consecutive birdies in the last two holes in the Oakmont Country Club on Sunday.
Spaun was the only golfer that ends with 1-uner 279 under par, and he was the only survivor on a day when the rain and the wind Oakmont made it even more treacherous.
The last big championship of the season, the open championship in the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland on July 17th to 20th, is one month away.
Who will be outdoors? Will Spaun's unlikely victory drive him to win more? What about the Ryder Cup?
What do you expect from the rest of the JJ Spaun season?
JJ Spaun talks to the media after winning the 2025 US Open. Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Mark Schlabach: Last season Spaun missed the average in 10 of his first 15 starts on the PGA tour and took 169th place in the world. He was concerned that he could lose his travel card.
“Last year in June I looked like I was losing my job, and at that moment I had this moment when I could swing so well, swinging like that,” said Spaun.
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Spaun turned things at the end of summer and he played one of the best golfs of his career this year. In February he took second place at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches and lost to Rory Mcilroy in a Monday playoff at the Player Championship. He had almost added a second career victory on the tour, and he finally did it on one of the most difficult golf courses in the world.
“I think it's just endurance,” said Spaun. “Somehow I always fought through everything it may be to get where I had to be and to come to what I wanted. I've done it before. I had a bit of break -ins a bit. I always went back and said: 'You have already done so. There is somehow a small pattern, so hopefully I'm not doing this pattern.
Spaun's competitors were not so surprised that he won the US Open, which said something. Although spun is not so familiar to people who do not follow the Golf exactly, it is considered one of the best ballstaders in the world. His putter got hot in Oakmont for four days, which is one of the main reasons why he won.
Paolo objects: While at first glance it looks as if Spaun was a fluke US Open winner, it is proof of his development as a player that this week he was able to survive every person in the field.
As his new coach Josh Gregory described in detail after the last round, Spaun could have been satisfied, just a mediocre PGA tour player -he had $ 17 million in career results this week -but instead he wanted Gregory Elite.
“It would be very easy to settle down and say what I do works,” said Gregory. “To his honor he said 'I have to be better.'”
For Spaun, who has always been an elite ball striker, that meant working on his putt and his chipping, which Gregory said he had helped. This week it was proof of the work he enables and it will prepare it well for the rest of the year. Whenever there is a course that prioritizes iron play, Spaun looks that he can also rely on the fact that he finds the green.
While I could possibly be far-fetched in the last major of the year if Spaun has never played outdoors, I expect that Spaun is in several PGA tour events, including the upcoming tour championship, in the mix.
Thoughts on the Ryder Cup after the first three majors of the year?
Schlabach: The US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was cheered by “USA! USA!” Greeted. When he reached the 18th green in the Oakmont Country Club on Sunday and it is a battles, he will often hear in the next few months.
Spaun almost secured his Ryder Cup spot by winning the US Open. He is third in points and only behind Scottie Scheffler No. 1 in the world and the two -time main winner Xander Schauffele. Bryson Decimbeau is fourth, followed by Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa. You are probably locks to make the team.
In addition to winning Spauner, Russell Henley and Ben Griffin were probably the biggest steps in Oakmont. They tied the 10th place at the age of 5 and have now seventh and eighth in Ryder Cup points.
The six best players in the score after the BMW championship on August 17 will automatically do the team. Bradley will also make six captain decisions.
Objects: I am sure that Captain Luke Donald enjoyed it to secure Viktor Hovland again his first big title, as well as Tyrrell Hatton and even Jon Rahm, who almost put himself in a fight and performed well. They all ended in the top 10 and will surely all be in Bethpage, even if Rahm and Hovland are currently in the European ranking outside of the top 6.
Someone who is in the TOP-6 is Robert Macintyre, whose Sunday run for second place helped him achieve his best result in a major and to make his name up to fourth place in the Ryder Cup rating.
Macintyre was considered the last man in Rome two years ago, but he kept more than 2-0: 1 in motion. On the tour this season, Macintyre has four top 10 placements, and this type of result in a course like Oakmont will certainly strengthen his case and bring him into a great position to return to the team in September.
To-ear thoughts for the open championship?
Scottie Scheffler did not play the US Open great, but still managed to end T-7. David Cannon/Getty Images
Schlabach: Scheffler fought his swing and putter for 72 holes in Oakmont, but he managed to bind 4 against 4 for another top 10 finish for a major for seventh place. Even in less than his best, Scheffler is still better than most others, and I think the list of golfers who can fight with the three-time major winner at Royal Portrush.
“My head to take away is that I fought as hard as this week,” said Scheffler. “I was very proud of how I was over four days. I did a lot of things out there that could really break a week, and I never really got this kind of this kind.
Shane Lowry took the Claret jug home when the Open was last played in Northern Ireland in 2019, and I think he will be among the favorites again. Lowry fought powerfully in his second major in a row and missed the cut after releasing 79-78.
Rory McIlroy will search for redemption after giving the cut at Royal Portrush five years ago. He still fought a little against his driver in Oakmont, but went home with some momentum after posting a 3-below 67 player on Sunday. I think he will get his mind and swing in the right place before he arrives in Northern Ireland.
“Look if I can't motivate you to get up at home for an open championship, then I don't know what motivation can motivate me,” said Mcilroy. “Yes, as I said, I just have to get myself to the right mind. I probably weren't there in the past few weeks.
“But as I said, to come home and have a few weeks off and hopefully feel refreshed and rejuvenated, bring me back to the right place.”
Uggeti: How about the defending champion who takes another run on it? With the eyes of all on the ranking on Sunday, Xander Schauffele quietly put together a round of underpays to end in the top 12 in Oakmont.
Slowly but surely Schauffele's game has withdrawn into the main championship after missing a rib injury for some time in the season. In his last seven starts, Schauffele has five top 15 positions.
“I've never been hurt. I think everything was somehow new,” said Schauffele this week. “I had the feeling that I was at a fairly high level. Then I was hurt. My expectations of what I knew I could do where I was, were very different and that it was difficult. I think that was the biggest wake -up call for me when I came back.”
It is fair to say that Schauffele is almost on time until the second big championship that he won last season. The 31-year-old secured the Claret jug in the Troon last year with a wonderful Sunday performance, which proved that he performed excellent performance not only at PGA tour setups, but also on left-wing courses with left-hand conditions. Portrush will bring these two things on stage in a month, and Schauffele will have the advantage of knowing that he previously won in this type of environment.
Who was the biggest winner at Oakmont next to the Spaun?
Schlabach: Viktor Hovland's swing has been a chaos for the majority of the season – or at least he believed it – but he managed to get into the mix and finished third with two over and in third place. Hovland's inner struggle for perfection could prevent him from joining Scheffler, Schauffele and others than the really best golfers in the world, but there is little debate that he is one of the most talented. Everything is there for him to win at least a few majors.
“I continue in the right direction and have the chance to win a big championship without my best things and don't feel very comfortable, it's super cool,” said Hovland. “So I'll take a lot of positive with me this week.”
Although Adam Scott had been a better finish than on Sunday with the 9-over 79, he was in the mix there until the conditions for the second nine became bad. I had believed that Scott's chances of fighting in Majors had been over since he was 44 years old. But this was the first time that he had been doing it for some time, and he could still have something left in the tank to do it again.
Uggeti: I will return to Macintyre here. The man from Oban looked like the chaotic conditions on Sunday and played the back nine in Oakmont in a Bogy-Free 2 undernoze to take the lead of the clubhouse, which could almost secure him in a playoff with a spaun.
“I'm just a guy who thinks,” said Macintyre. “Today was a day when I said to myself: 'Why not? Why isn't it today?'”
All week, the Scot laid out lights and took fourth place in Strokes: Puting and despite a round of 74 on Friday, held an even par winner in the tournament.
Macintyre was almost right.
After he was finished with his round and he could only observe when Spaun decreased the 64-foot birds to secure a 1-under end of the end and the victory, cameras macintyre caught in the score and gave Spaun a hearty clapping and a serious “wow”. It was a human moment when a lot of praise brought in and a week that Macintyre did not anchor so quickly.
“It feels great,” said Macintyre that he had got into a fight. “It is what I dreamed of as a child who lands home and watches all majors. Yes, it feels incredible.”
