J.J. Spaun Wins the U.S. Open at Oakmont With a 64-Foot Birdie Through the Rain

Five bogeys in six holes. A wedge that hit the flagstick and rolled all the way back off the green. A four-shot deficit, a rain delay and a soaked Oakmont that looked ready to swallow everyone. And at the end of all of it, J.J. Spaun standing over a 64-foot putt on the 72nd hole with a two-putt for the title, and holing it anyway.

Spaun shot a 2-over 72 on Sunday to finish at 1-under 279 and win the 125th U.S. Open by two shots over Robert MacIntyre. He was the only player in the field to finish under par. It is his first major title and the second PGA TOUR win of his career, after the 2022 Valero Texas Open, and it came with a $4.3 million check, the biggest of his career.

The Start That Should Have Ended It

Spaun began the day one shot behind 54-hole leader Sam Burns, and the opening hour went about as badly as a final round at a major can go. He bogeyed each of the first three holes. At the second, his approach caromed off the flagstick and spun back off the green. Through six holes he had made five bogeys, on his way to a front-nine 40.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, via ESPN, Spaun is the first U.S. Open champion to open his final round with three straight holes over par. Viktor Hovland said afterward that Spaun looked out of it immediately after that start.

Then the sky opened. Play was suspended at 4:01 p.m. with the leaders on the eighth tee, and the delay ran a little over an hour and a half. Spaun's short-game coach, Josh Gregory, used the break to tell him he was trying too hard. Spaun credited the stoppage for what came next, telling reporters the break was actually the key to winning.

The Rally

After the restart Spaun steadied himself with a run of pars, and then the putter he had leaned on all week came back to life. A 40-foot birdie at the par-5 12th pulled him into a five-way tie for the lead at 1 over. A 22-foot birdie at the 14th gave him the outright lead at even par.

He gave one back at the 15th, which left a logjam at the top, and then came the two holes that decided the championship. At the drivable 17th, Spaun put his tee shot on the green, ran his eagle putt about 3 and a half feet past and calmly holed the comeback for birdie and a one-shot lead. At the 18th, with rain falling again, he found the fairway and hit his approach to about 64 feet. He needed only one putt.

Spaun played the back nine in 32 and became only the fifth U.S. Open champion to close with back-to-back birdies.

"I never thought I would be here holding this trophy," Spaun said during the trophy presentation.

Burns and Scott Drown

Burns had control for a long stretch. He made the turn with a two-shot lead, then the wet conditions turned on him at the 11th, where his drive settled in a muddy divot in the first cut. Burns felt he deserved relief and did not get it, needed three more shots to reach the green and made double bogey. A bogey followed at the 12th and another double at the 15th, and Burns signed for 78 to finish in a tie for seventh at 4 over.

Adam Scott's bid to end a 12-year major drought fell apart even faster. Scott was tied for the lead with five holes to play, lost the fairway, bogeyed the 14th and 15th, and played that closing stretch in 5 over for a 79. Scott told reporters the conditions simply were not easy, and the scorecard agreed. He finished in a tie for 12th at 6 over.

MacIntyre Comes From Nowhere

MacIntyre started the day seven back and at one point sat nine behind. The Scot birdied the 17th, left a 33-foot birdie try at the last a couple of feet short and tapped in for a 2-under 68, the best round among the contenders. A win would have made MacIntyre the first left-handed U.S. Open champion and Scotland's first major winner since Paul Lawrie in 1999.

Hovland shot 73 to finish alone in third at 2 over. Tyrrell Hatton (72), Carlos Ortiz (73) and Cameron Young (70) tied for fourth at 3 over. Hatton was part of the four-way tie at 1 over late, but chunked two shots in a greenside bunker at the 17th and made bogey.

"Unbelievable. What a putt to win. That's incredible," Hatton said.

Scottie Scheffler shot 70 to tie for seventh with Burns and Jon Rahm, who closed with a 67. Scheffler was in range on the back nine before a three-putt from 12 feet at the 11th and a double bogey at the 15th.

From the Brink to a Major

Last season Spaun missed 10 of 15 cuts in the first half of the year and failed to qualify for a major. In March he held the 54-hole lead at THE PLAYERS and lost a three-hole playoff to Rory McIlroy. He arrived at Oakmont No. 25 in the world, playing only his second U.S. Open, on a course he had never seen.

"I tried to just continue to dig deep," Spaun said.

Four days ago he opened with a bogey-free 66 and led a championship nobody expected him to contend in. On Sunday he gave all of that back in six holes, waited out a storm, and took it back with a putt Oakmont will be replaying for a long time.

Relive the week in our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps. The PGA TOUR's final-round wrap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR, ESPN, The Washington Post. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images via PGA TOUR.