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JJ Spaun entered this year's US Open with modest expectations, given his less-than-sweet past experiences, including the 77-75 he shot and an early cut at Torrey Pines in 2021, which should have been an advantage given he played college golf at San Diego State.
This week, the 34-year-old golfer made his first attempt at Oakmont Country Club, a course known for its “hazards,” and had his first practice session with a short-game coach just a few days ago.
Yet early in the race, Spaun took the tournament by storm. He shot a bogey-free, 4-under 66 to take the lead in the standings.
How good was Spaun's opening round? His 66 was the best opening round in US Open history at Oakmont. In the previous nine US Opens at the course, there have been only seven bogey-free rounds. Dustin Johnson was the last to do so in 2016.
Spaun started on the 10th hole, immediately causing a stir with a 20-foot birdie chip. He added three more birdies in the first seven holes, finishing the first half of the round with a score of 31 (-4), an achievement never achieved in the history of the US Open at Oakmont.
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What's Spaun's secret? “On social media, everyone says Oakmont is hell,” Spaun laughs. “I get scared too. But I use that fear to focus. It feels like I'm in peak performance mode, where everything is in place. Without the pressure, I can easily lose focus.”
If the first chip shot opened the day perfectly, it was Spaun's putter that kept the day remarkably consistent. He added three birdies from putts under 12 feet.
Notably, when he missed the green, Spaun was excellent in saving par in seemingly impossible situations: a putt longer than 5 meters and many other putts in the range of 2 - 2.5 meters. It is not surprising that this performance helped him lead the entire tournament after round 1.
Spaun is probably pleased with his decision to work with a new putting coach earlier this week. He’s known Josh Gregory since his time at San Diego State in the early 2010s, when Gregory coached at Augusta State. Gregory has helped Spaun get his short game back on track in just three short sessions.
“He and I met again last month,” Spaun said. “He said, ‘Meet me at the US Open, I’ll show you some exercises. No contract, no strings attached, just brotherhood.’”
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The small changes seem to have sparked a new version of Spaun: more confident, more courageous and more willing to take on challenges. It’s a stark contrast to the Spaun of last season, when he was so down that he considered hanging up his clubs because he was in danger of losing his PGA Tour spot.
“I was playing so badly, my health was not good, I was sick all the time and I had a virus,” Spaun recalled. “I started thinking: I’ve had eight years as a professional, a great family, I’ve won a championship. If this is the end, it’s not so bad. And that thought made me… relax.”
Then, on a flight to England last December, Spaun happened to watch the movie Wimbledon (2004) - a romantic sports comedy about an aging tennis player who decides to play one last tournament and then unexpectedly wins.
“I was moved to tears watching it,” Spaun said. “I wondered, ‘What if I’m like that?’” Since then, the faith has returned.
Though he hasn’t won a tournament since the 2022 Valero Texas Open, Spaun finished third at the Sony Open, second at the Cognizant Classic, and narrowly defeated Rory McIlroy in a dramatic playoff at The Players Championship. He’s currently sixth in the FedEx Cup, a near-certainty for the Tour Championship, and has renewed his Ryder Cup hopes with a 13th-place finish in the U.S. points table. This could be Spaun’s best season since turning pro in 2012.
“I used to be afraid of being in the lead and being chased by everyone,” Spaun admitted. “Three years ago in Memphis, I was in the lead and then played really badly in the final, and that still haunts me. Since then, I haven’t really competed for a championship many times, until earlier this year at the Sony Open. That’s when I told myself to stop hiding. If you want to be successful, you have to dare to follow the path of successful people.”
There are three rounds left at Oakmont. But for now, JJ Spaun—who almost gave it all up—is writing one of the most inspiring stories of the 2025 US Open. And sometimes, it only takes the right movie to spark an extraordinary journey.
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Rory McIlroy had a rather disappointing day. |
Candidates are out of breath.
While JJ Spaun shined in the leading group, the world's top three golfers Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele encountered many difficulties on the opening day of the 2025 US Open.
Xander Schauffele, the recent PGA Championship champion, finished the round with a 72 (+2). Although he had two consecutive birdies on the last two holes to make up for a double bogey on hole 7, it was not enough to put him in the top group. He temporarily ranked T34, 6 strokes behind the leading group.
Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 golfer and the strongest candidate, did not have a smooth day. Despite having 3 birdies, 6 bogeys scattered throughout the round forced him to close the round with a 73 (+3). He temporarily finished T52, equal to defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, who also shot 73 in round 1.
The most unfortunate was probably Rory McIlroy. He started off promisingly with a bogey-free first nine holes and a score of -2, making him one of the top scorers. However, things quickly went off the rails in the next nine holes as he repeatedly missed fairways, inaccurate approaches to the flag, and inconsistent putting led to Rory making four bogeys. He finished the day with a 74 (+4), falling to T66 and facing the risk of being cut.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/jj-spaun-hanh-trinh-hoi-sinh-tumot-bo-phim-den-dinh-bang-us-open-post1750756.tpo
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