Major Longshot J.J. Spaun Captures US Open in Dramatic, Historic Fashion
Posted on: June 16, 2025, 08:03h.
Last updated on: June 16, 2025, 09:58h.
- J.J. Spaun won the 125th U.S. Open
- Spaun overcame 150/1 odds to win at Oakmont
- Spaun said he “never knew how good he could be”
J.J. Spaun won the 125th United States Open at Oakmont Country Club on Father’s Day, June 15, 2025, in the most dramatic fashion.
Spaun opened the final round with five bogeys in his first six holes, which included perhaps the worst bad break of the tournament on the second where Spaun’s pitch ricocheted off the pin. Instead of a short birdie putt, the bounce led to a bogey.
Resilient, seemingly ever calm and poised — traits much of the golf world first saw at this year’s Players Championship where Spaun lost in a playoff to Rory McIlroy — the 34-year-old journeyman wasn’t fazed by the rough start. Three pars to close the front at 40, which would match the highest front nine score for any winner on tour since 2003, followed by pars on 10 and 11 before a rain delay, allowed Spaun to settle and refocus.
After the 100-minute weather delay, Spaun caught fire. He rolled in difficult, long, fast birdie putts on the par-5 12th and par-4 14th. A bogey on the 15th, set up by a poor drive exacerbated by a poor pitch out, pulled him back to +1.
He quickly recovered.
A par on the difficult 16th set up what many thought was the shot of the tournament, a bullet drive at the short par-4 17th that never left the pin. Spaun’s ball rolled to about 15 feet. A two-putt birdie gave him the outright lead at even par.
With Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre in the clubhouse at level par, and the final pairing struggling behind, Spaun needed only a par at the difficult 18th to secure his first major victory and only his second PGA Tour win.
A straight drive and a safe approach left Spaun 64 feet away from the US Open Championship Trophy. He benefited from playing partner Viktor Hovland being just outside him on the same line. After Hovland hit a nice putt to about five feet, it was Spaun’s time.
It looked good from the moment he putt it. Seconds later, it slowly rolled into the center of the cup.
Major Win for Sportsbooks
Few saw Sunday, or this week in general, coming. Several pretournament favorites, including defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, and Shane Lowry, missed the cut.
Rory McIlroy was never in contention, and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s putter let him down.
Meanwhile, Adam Scott gathered the crowd around him in his pursuit of his second major. Five-time tour winner Sam Burns found himself in an unprecedented position heading into Sunday.
But in the end, it was Spaun, who was around 150/1 to win the US Open before Thursday’s first round, who hoisted the trophy.
I never knew how good I could be,” Spaun said.
Now, he knows. We all know.
Longshot to World Top 10
At 150/1, Spaun is the longest pretournament winner to win a major since Phil Mickelson in 2021 at the PGA Championship when he was as long as 250/1.
With his U.S. Open win — his fifth top-10 finish this year on Tour — Spaun jumps 17 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking to No. 8. He finished 2024 ranked No. 119.
Spaun said he was up at 3 am the morning before Sunday’s final round making a trip to a 24/7 CVS store to get medicine for one of his daughters. As Spaun celebrated after sunset on the 18th green at Oakmont, one of those daughters said, “Daddy, we’ve got to leave. It’s bedtime.”
“We’re staying up late tonight,” said the US Open champ.
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