OAKMONT, Pa. -- All week long it was Oakmont vs. Golfers and on the 72nd hole of the 125th U.S. Open, J.J. Spaun won it for the golfers.
"As bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot," Spaun said, seated beside the trophy. "I tried to just continue to dig deep. I've been doing it my whole life."
In the last hour of what passed for daylight on a miserable rainy day outside Pittsburgh, with a war of attrition claiming leader after leader, Spaun impossibly went on the attack. It all ended with a 64-foot birdie putt on the final hole, a putt that took Spaun to one-under par, a symbolic win after a week of brutal punishment dished out by the most unforgiving of golf courses.
"Just to finish it off like that is just a dream. You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger chip, you see Nick Taylor's putt, you see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that at this championship, I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life."
Spaun celebrated the Father's Day victory with his wife and two daughters in attendance.
"My daughter always asks me, every time dad goes golfing, she's like, 'Were you the winner today?' " Spaun said. "So today she's like, You're the winner today. She got to see it. She didn't have to ask me."
Tied for the lead, Spaun did what every other contender couldn't do at the par-4 17th. With danger left, right and long, the 34-year-old from L.A. drove the green from 314 yards away, setting up a two-putt birdie to give him a one-shot lead at level-par.
Nothing is easy at Oakmont though, and after finding the fairway and the green at the 18th hole, Spaun had two putts to claim his first major. He somehow needed just one, pouring in the long birdie putt to put an exclamation mark on his first major championship win.
It is just second win of his career after winning the 2022 Valero Texas Open. Spaun lost the Players Championship in March in an agonizing playoff against Rory McIlroy, misjudging the wind and making triple bogey at the famed island green 17th.
"His game this year has been great in big-time events. He's one of the more underrated players, and this year he's showing that," said the aforementioned Canadian Taylor, who shares a trainer with Spaun. "He's showing his true talent now."
Spaun's first professional win came in Thunder Bay, Ont. at the Stall Foundation Open in 2015.
"I grew up watching golf. I was a young kid, wanted to play golf. I loved golf. It was a passion for me growing up," Spaun said. "I always played with my parents growing up. One thing led to another. I wasn't really groomed to be a professional golfer. I didn't get put through academies. I didn't play the AJGA. I played local stuff."
Oakmont claimed 54-hole leader Sam Burns with a double bogey at hole 15. For 44-year-old Adam Scott the end came with a double bogey at the par-3 16th. The fiery Englishman Tyrrell Hatton met his fate with bogeys at both 17 and 18.
"I went out there and gave it the best I had," Burns said. "Golf's a hard game, especially on this golf
course."
In the end, the closest competitor was Scotsman Robert MacIntyre who shot a Sunday 68, to finish solo second at one-over par. MacIntyre's U.S. Open hopes ended in a comfortable chair in the clubhouse where he sat hoping that Oakmont would slay every man left on the golf course.
And it nearly did, except for J.J. Spaun.
A month of rain, a week of rain, and finally a Sunday of rain couldn't stop Oakmont from putting up a devastating test to the world's best players. It's narrow and pitched fairways seemingly guiding golf balls into five-inch rough that was freshened with leaf blowers each day to insure maximum punishment.
Once players found the greens, they were met with severe slopes and speeds that seemed impossible in these wet conditions.
"I think that's true to a U.S. Open," Taylor said after finishing T23 at eight-over and top Canadian. "When I grew up that was the U.S. Open. We play enough courses where guys just send it and figure it out from there."
Viktor Hovland hung in longer than most, and playing in the second-to-last group with Spaun, the Norwegian shot a 73 on Sunday to finish third at two-over.
"Just didn't have it today. Just didn't hit it very good, and I missed way too many short putts, just didn't make anything. It was a grind, but happy to battle back at least, and it was a very nice week," Hovland said. "I keep progressing in the right direction, and to have a chance to win a major championship without my best stuff and not feeling very comfortable, it's super cool."
Hatton (72), Cameron Young (70) and Carlos Ortiz (73) finished tied for fourth at three-over. Burns (78), Scottie Scheffler (70) and John Rahm (67) were one shot further back at four-over.
Heavy rain threatened to push Sunday's final round into Monday when play was suspended at 4 p.m. with the leaders on just the eighth hole. When the rain softened, but standing water remaining in many fairways, play resumed at 5:40 p.m.
"They were desperately wanting to finish tonight," Taylor said. "It was fair, but it was borderline as for what a normal tournament would deem acceptable."
After a week defined by incredible difficulty, it was a fitting end to the record 10th U.S. Open at Oakmont.
