Spaun is last man standing at US Open as rain swamps Oakmont

J.J. Spaun and caddie Mark Carens after the winning putt on hole 72 of the 125th US Open at Oakmont Country Club on Sunday. Image courtesy USGA.

By Rahul Banerji

Even in the fickle world of golf, there is justice to be found occasionally. For four days, J.J. Spaun was steady as a rock on the greens, a quality that won his the 125th US Open t Oakmont Country Club on Sunday.

In his 14 years as a professional Spaun has seen it all, slogging through feeder tours, earning and losing his card twice but on Sunday, he made what could be a career-changing 64-foot put to earn his biggest pay cheque.

Spaun is not a generational talent. At 34, the Californian is past all of that but the grit that comes from years of grinding away came to the fore at Oakmont, most critically on a wet and wild Sunday.

Setting off in arrears on the final day and dropping a bunch of shots before the rain came, Spaun dug deep to rediscover his touch with the putter.

That he used to win the championship by two strokes from Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre “with an improbable, cross-country birdie putt on the 72nd green”, as the event website put it. Spaun (66-72-69-72) totalled 1 under par 279, the only one to finish with a sub-par score.

On Sunday, MacIntyre (68), Jon Rahm (67), Rory McIlroy (67),  Xander Schauffele (69) and Ryan Fox (69) were the only finishers with under-par rounds.

While the Scot finished second, Viktor Hovland (282) was third and Tyrre;; Hatton, Carlos Ortiz and Cameron Young shared fourth place with 3 over 283s.

Digging deep

“As bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot,” said Spaun later. “I tried to continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life. 

“I think that’s been the biggest difference this year – being able to do that. Fortunately, I dug very deep on the back nine, and things went my way, and here we are with the trophy.”

Said 54-hole leader Sam Burns, who along with the steady Adam Scott paid heavily after the rain break, “The conditions were extremely difficult. I didn’t have my best stuff today.”

Added Scott: “It just wasn’t easy out there. All things being equal, it’s Sunday of the US Open, one of the hardest setups, and the conditions were the hardest of the week. Thank God it wasn’t like this all week.” 

“Almost got there, but not quite,” rued MacIntyre, who waited for Spaun to finish in the scorer’s tent. “I always thought I could really challenge, even going into today, but obviously the start wasn’t a help.”

Spaun’s final putt of the championship left playing poartner Hovland at a loss for words.

“That was unbelievable,” the Norwegian star said. “After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately. Everyone came back to the pack. I wasn’t expecting that really. 

“I thought I had to shoot maybe 3 under par today to have a good chance, but obviously the conditions got really, really tough, and this golf course is just a beast.

“To watch him hole the putt on 12 down the hill there was unreal. And then he makes another one on 14 that was straight down the hill. And then the one on 18, it’s just absolutely filthy there.”

Also read: Adam Scott takes US Open spotlight as Burns stays on top