J.J. Spaun credits rain delay as 'the key for me' in winning first major trophy at U.S. Open
J.J. Spaun has won the U.S. Open Championship and his first major with a thrilling, birdie-birdie finish to rally for victory at Oakmont Country Club.
Spaun, 34, only had one win on the PGA Tour prior to his thrilling win at the U.S. Open.
With a slow start Sunday, Spaun bogeyed five of his first six holes to go from -3 to +2 while trying to run down Sam Burns, who started the day with a one-shot lead.
The final round of the tournament was delayed for over 90 minutes due to heavy rain that made the course unplayable and Spaun said one of his coaches told him to stop trying so hard while warming up to get ready to get back on the course.
"That's what I was doing," Spaun said. "I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day. It just unravelled very fast. But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament."
Burns struggled on the day, shooting 78 to finish +4 on the tournament.
As Burns was struggling to hold his lead, Spaun capitalized, making birdies on the 12th and 14th holes to get back to even par, but followed those birdies up with a bogey on the 15th, falling back to +1 -- but Spaun was far from being done for the day.
On the 17th hole, Spaun drove the ball onto the reachable Par 4 green, rolling it past the hole to 17 feet from the pin. He missed an eagle putt, but made 3 foot putt for birdie.
Then on the 18th hole, Spaun found the fairway off the tee with a 308 yard drive and his approach left him 64 feet to the hole, needing a 2-putt par to win the tournament as the rain was pouring down at Oakmont.
Spaun's playing partner, Viktor Hovland, left his approach in a nearly identical spot, giving Spaun a free read on the long putt.
When Spaun stood over his putt, he needed to leave it close enough for a tap-in par, but that wasn't necessary as the ball climbed the undulating putting surface on the 18th hole, trickling to the cup and dropping in for the birdie to clinch his first major championship.
The celebration began immediately as Spaun let out a giant fist pump and he and his caddie, Mark Carens jumped into each others arms.
Spaun now enters a short list of players to win golf's toughest test at Oakmont, joining names like Els, Nicklaus, Miller, Cabrera, and Hogan to win the U.S. Open at one of golf's true cathedrals.
COMPLETE U.S. OPEN COVERAGE:
- PHOTOS: J.J. Spaun outlasts Oakmont and the weather to win the U.S. Open
- Final round of the U.S. Open delayed due to rainy weather
- Sam Burns leads U.S. Open after rain-soaked third round at Oakmont Country Club
- PHOTO GALLERY: Saturday at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club
- Big names miss the cut as Oakmont keeps packing a punch while Sam Burns takes lead into the weekend
- PHOTOS: Second round of U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club
- Oakmont flexes its muscles against the world's best in opening round of the U.S. Open
- PHOTOS: The opening round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club
- Phil Mickelson is playing in what could be his final U.S. Open this week
- Oakmont's "magnificent" and "relentless" traits define why it's meant to host the U.S. Open
- The U.S. Open at Oakmont is going to be really hard. Here's what the players think about the course.
