A Perfectly-Timed Rain Delay And The Shot Of A Lifetime Lead To JJ Spaun Becoming U.S. Open Champion

Sometimes, things are not quite as they seem, and that was exactly the case Sunday for JJ Spaun at Oakmont.

Spaun began the final round of the U.S. Open one shot back of 54-hole leader Sam Burns on a leaderboard that was top-heavy with players without a major championship to their name, minus Adam Scott, who won The Masters more than a decade ago. It was a volatile list of players who could ultimately find the winner's circle at the historic and treacherous venue, and Spaun wasted no time in removing himself from that list right out of the gates.

Spaun made bogey on each of his first three holes in the final round before making two more on the front nine to turn at 5-over for the day. He was suddenly out of contention and went from potentially winning the U.S. Open to potentially shooting 77 and finishing in a forgettable tie for 13th. JJ Spaun was not going to win the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Or so it seemed.

JJ Spaun credited a perfectly-timed rain delay after winning the 2025 U.S. Open. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

The floodgates were opened above Oakmont as Spaun was preparing to make the turn. He was reeling, battling, just trying to hold on, and after the golf gods tortured him with a brutal break on the second hole earlier in the day, they delivered a gift in the form of a 96-minute rain delay.

Plenty of players in Spaun's situation would have taken the hour and a half to sulk and let the fact that things were very much not going their way take over every little thought. Spaun did not allow that type of mindset to creep in, and instead used the break to reset and focus on the very real reality that a great back nine, coupled with the leading pack stumbling in nasty conditions, could lead to him becoming a major champion just hours later.

"I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day. It just unraveled very fast," Spaun said after the victory. "But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament."

"All I was thinking was -- and even my whole team, my coach, my caddie, they were like, Oh, dude, this is exactly what we need," he later continued. "And it was. We went back out and capitalized on kind of -- I changed my outfit. I'm like, I'm done wearing those clothes. I just needed to reset everything, kind of like start the whole routine over."

Spaun seemed to officially settle into his round after extending his par streak to five holes after the delay with a tidy two putt from nearly 50 feet on the Par 4 11th. As he was getting comfortable, the pack he was chasing was doing the opposite.

Spaun made his first birdie of the day on the Par 5 13th hole while Burns, who led a large portion of the day, played the 11th and 12th holes at three-over. Adam Scott, who was Burns' playing partner and one of many who co-led at some point Sunday, bogeyed the 11th hole as well.

JJ Spaun's final round of the U.S. Open got off to a nightmare start. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

After putting a six-hole stretch together at one-under par in the middle of his round, Spaun suddenly found himself in a five-way tie atop the leaderboard at a wet, nasty, brutal Oakmont that was landing punches on seemingly every player in the field that wasn't named JJ Spaun or Robert MacIntyre.

Spaun wasted very little time to grab the solo lead with a birdie on the Par 4 13th, but gave it away with a bogey on the very next hole.

MacIntyre, meanwhile, who was playing three groups in front of Spaun's group, had the very rare advantage of not just playing great golf, but running out of holes as well. The fewer holes left, the fewer opportunities there were to make a big number, and with birdies on two of his final five holes, the Scotsman managed to post the clubhouse lead at one-over while everyone still on the golf course was holding on for dear life.

Standing on the drivable Par 4 17th hole tied with MacIntyre at one-over, Spaun knew exactly what he needed to do: play the final two holes at one-under and you become a U.S. Open champion. Knowing that, and doing that, are two very different things, yet it seemed to be all the same for Spaun given what ensued down the stretch.

Spaun hit the shot of the day off the 17th tee, landing his teeshot on the green before leaving himself with a putt for eagle inside 18 feet. A comfortable two-putt, and Spaun was leading the golf tournament, just four shots away from becoming a player who shot a 40 on the opening nine holes of a final round who went on to win the United States Open.

After hitting the drive of his life on the 17th, Spaun followed it with a seed down the center of the 18th fairway, and it turns out that he didn't need four shots on the 72nd hole to secure the victory; he needed just three.

"It's definitely like a storybook, fairytale ending, kind of underdog fighting back, not giving up, never quitting," Spaun told the press at Oakmont. "With the rain and everything and then the putt, I mean, you couldn't write a better story. I'm just so fortunate to be on the receiving end of that."

The U.S. Open oftentimes creates those moments one couldn't dare dream up, and Spaun finding the winner's circle on a Sunday after beginning the day in a bogey-filled nightmare will certainly go down as a championship the golf world will soon forget.