OAKMONT, Pa. — J.J. Spaun endured the toughest test in golf on the toughest course in America in the worst kind of conditions.
And then he turned a miserable, wet Sunday at Oakmont Country Club into a finish as memorable as any in the U.S. Open.
The champion not many expected delivered two shots no one will forget. First came his driver on the 314-yard 17th hole onto the green for a two-putt birdie that gave him the lead. Then, needing two putts from 65 feet on the 18th to win, he finished his storybook tournament by holing the longest putt all week at Oakmont for a birdie and a final round of 2-over-par 72.
For all the mess Oakmont became in a series of downpours, for all the bad breaks and bad lies and bad shots that cost so many contenders, Spaun overcame a Sunday start that would have ended hopes of more seasoned players and weathered the pressure to win his greatest prize.
“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” said the Los Angeles native, who finished last year at No. 119 in the Official World Golf Ranking and moved up to No. 8 with his victory. “I always had aspirations and dreams. I never knew what my ceiling was. I’m just trying to be the best golfer I can be.
“I’m happy to display that here at Oakmont.”
He finished 72 holes at 1-under 279, the sole survivor to par, and won by two shots over Scottish golfer Robert MacIntyre, who watched the finish from a scoring room and could only applaud the stunning conclusion to the 125th U.S. Open and the record-extending 10th played at Oakmont.
Five players shared the lead with an hour to go. Four players were still tied as the U.S. Open made its way to the final four holes that frustrated Sam Burns and England’s Tyrrell Hatton, and crushed the hopes of Australia’s Adam Scott and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz.
The last man standing was Spaun, the 34-year-old Californian with an eerie resemblance to the late Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris.
Never mind that Spaun lacked the pedigree of so many players groomed in elite competition, that he had only one PGA Tour victory until Sunday, was playing in only his second U.S. Open and had never cracked the top 20 in his previous eight majors.
The ending was magical. The road leading to his U.S. Open title was hard work and resiliency, especially Sunday on this tough course in the suburbs of Steel City. One shot behind to start the final round, he had five bogeys in six holes, including a shot that hit the pin on No. 2 and caromed 35 yards back into the fairway, turning a birdie into a bogey.
“It felt like as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life,” said Spaun, who had a one-shot lead after Thursday’s first round and trailed Burns by a shot at the 36- and 54-hole marks. “I think that’s been the biggest difference this year, has been 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.”
It was calamity for so many others.
Burns had a two-shot lead going to the 11th tee, then made a double bogey from a divot in the first cut on that hole and another from a lie in the fairway on No. 15 so wet he thought he deserved relief. He shot a 78.
“It’s a tough golf course, and I didn’t have my best stuff, and clearly it showed,” said the 28-year-old from Louisiana, who had never finished in the top 10 at any major.
Scott, trying to become the first player to go more than 11 years between major titles, was tied for the lead with five holes to play. One of the best drivers in the sport could no longer find the fairway. The 44-year-old Australian who won the 2013 Masters played that closing stretch in 5 over for a 79.
“I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there,” Scott said.
Hatton and Ortiz also slashed away in slushy lies, making mistakes that cost them a chance to survive this beast of a day.
The rain that put Oakmont on the edge of being unplayable might have saved Spaun.
He was four shots behind and facing the tough ninth hole. And then came no golf for a span of 1 hour, 37 minutes.
“The weather delay changed the whole vibe of the day,” Spaun said.
Remarkably, he made only one bogey the rest of the way. But oh, that finish.
MacIntyre, the 28-year-old from Oban toughened by the Scottish game of Shinty, became the new target. He also struggled at the start of the final round and fell nine shots behind at one point. But he birdied the 17th and split the fairway on the 18th for a key par, a 68 and the clubhouse lead.
Three groups later, Spaun delivered what looked like the winner on the 17th, a powerful fade that rolled onto the green like a putt and settled 18 feet behind the cup.
On the final putt, he was helped by Norway’s Viktor Hovland being on the same line and going first. Spaun rapped it through the soaked turf, walked to the left to watch it break right toward the hole and watched it dropped as thousands of rain-soaked spectators erupted.
He raised both arms and tossed his putter, jumping into the arms of caddie Mark Carens.
The celebration carried into those who lost the battle.
Hatton was talking with reporters, bemoaning a bad break on the 17th ending his chances of winning. He watched Spaun’s putt, and it brightened his mood.
“Unbelievable. What a putt to win. That’s incredible,” he said. “I’m sad about how I finished, but I’m very happy for J.J. To win a major in that fashion is amazing.”
Hovland, who finished third after closing with a 73, was paired with Spaun and saw it all: the putt at the end, the bogeys at the beginning.
“After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately,” Hovland said. “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.”
Hatton (72) and Ortiz (73), both part of the LIV Golf League and in serious contention at a major for the first time, tied for fourth with Cameron Young (70). The consolation for Ortiz was getting into the Masters next year.
Baylor School graduate Harris English, who was playing in his 10th U.S. Open and extended an impressive personal streak of never missing the cut, was unable able to make any moves on the weekend. He closed with a 74 and tied for 59th at 18 over.
PGA Championship winner Scottie Scheffler, 10 shots behind early in the final round, was somehow still part of the conversation on the back nine, but he missed far too many birdie chances, even three-putting from 12 feet on the 11th hole. The world’s No. 1 player for two-plus years finished with a 70 to tie for seventh with Spain’s Jon Rahm (67) and Burns, his best friend who will feel the sting.
He had a double bogey by missing the green into a bad lie on the slope of a bunker. He missed a pair of six-foot birdie putts to seize control. And then he made a mess of the 15th for another double bogey.
“I was 100% locked in on what I was trying to do,” Burns said. “Ultimately, it felt like the water just kind of got in the way, and I went left. It is what it is.”
Through it all, Spaun emerged as a U.S. Open champion hardly anyone saw coming — not at the start of the year, not at the start of the round.
“I really showed myself a lot today on that back nine,” Spaun said.
And a lot of other people, too.