J.J. Spaun Talks 2025 U.S. Open Win with Rich Eisen | Full Interview

2025 U.S. Open Champion J.J. Spaun tells Rich Eisen why Father’s Day had an extra special meaning this year at Oakmont, recaps his rollercoaster ride of a golf career that saw him go from the brink of losing his PGA Tour card to winning his first career major, and more.

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joining us here uh thrilled to to to meet and congratulate in person the united states open champion fresh back from oakmont jj spawn good to see you jj how are you great thank you guys very much is that the hardware behind your left shoulder right there yep that’s that’s it that’s glory what what what is it jj what did you call the glory all of glory i guess sorry i don’t know yeah not enough no i mean it could be like i mean if this was if you’re a lord of the rings fan like the precious that’s the precious right there over your yeah there you go that’s it right congratulations man i uh you know i mean uh i was saying on this show you know your story is why we watch sports uh what is going through your mind uh when you see as you say the glory the precious behind you there and all the hard work you know that you’ve put into it jj yeah it just it just means that what a journey i’ve been on to get to this point in my career um you know i never really knew how far i this game could take me um you know you obviously have dreams and aspirations but to eventually you know finish one off and and not only just win on the pj tour but to win a major championship um it’s beyond my wildest dreams honestly and it’s it’s still still hard to think that this is real life and um you know who were you thinking about um you know once once that putt sank and you just you know you saw that thing go in 64 feet and after you’re celebrating what did you what’ you think about jj uh i i was just so engulfed in emotion um i just wanted to be you know next to my family my girls my wife they embraced me with big hugs and you know it was just kind of everything you imagine to how how everything could have unfolded perfectly um with with that finish and to kind of put an exclamation point on it with that 64 foot putt was just was an amazing experience and something i’ll remember remember for the rest of my life let’s talk about your kids because uh you know um interestingly enough you know you win this on father’s day and you know we all we all know when you got kids um the most important job isn’t what you do for a living um it is being a dad and so walk me through how your day started jj uh on that sunday please yeah woke up to what sounded like a ton of gagging and crying from a two-year-old little girl um unfortunately yeah she caught some sort of stomach bug or maybe food poisoning at the daycare that week and um you know couldn’t hold down water couldn’t hold down anything to you know settle her stomach so my wife you know originally got up with her at 3:00 a.m and you woke me up said “violet can’t you know keep anything down she’s got you know puke all up in her pack and play and you know we’re trying to get extra towels from one room to the other to to kind of help her clean herself up but yeah i tried to find a cvs you know that morning around 3:30 a.m and you know get her what she needed and um you know i did the best i could you know pedialyte and saltine crackers are kind of yeah you know the ingredients for a 2-year-old you can’t really give them any sort of medication but uh she had to rough it out but it was definitely a crazy morning to a pretty crazy sunday well you know what jj i i you know i’ve been there you know uh dad’s uh moms we’ve all we’ve all been there um although didn’t have to wrestle with oakmont later on uh in the day as you did but so you’re you were in an actual um pharmacy in in your air nearby at 3:30 in the morning of the day of the final round of the us open that happen for you no i i got i got out into the um there’s there’s like a convenience store in the weston there and they had stuff and it was closed but the cvs that was um 24 hours yes it was literally 3.8 miles away and i double checked to make sure it was open 24 hours and it wasn’t so unfortunately i didn’t go till about 7 a.m but like it was crazy how i had to just i went through i just my dad instincts kicked in and i was like i’ll do whatever it takes to get something to this girl right away but yeah it was it was it was an insane morning so did you go back to sleep did you get any any sleep yeah i i went back to sleep for a couple hours so then my 5-year-old jumped in bed while the other one was puking her brains out in the other room the 5-year-old came and slept with me and was kicking me in the back all night long too all morning but uh you know it’s fine i mean they’re they’re my they’re my kids they’re my girls i’m used to it and uh you know sometimes you know you got to be a dad first before a golfer and um you know i ended up you know making it out all right yeah yeah you did and that’s just going to add to the story right um later later on when you know your kids obviously you know your 5-year-old might one day have a recollection of being there at oakmont you know right like some some memories your your 2-year-old um clearly won’t but this is part of the you know i mean the fact that you were there for them gathered yourself um and and then played one of the toughest courses in the history of the sport on one of the toughest days and setups right um and and got through even a a front nine of 40 what what were you thinking making the turn on sunday jj well fortunately they had some weather come in uh right before i teed off on number nine right and that was kind of the key moment where um you know my caddy and i looked at each other when that horn went off to stop play that this is exactly what we needed kind of kind of a little pause in in this you know uh lull of you know bad play where things were not going my way i mean because it’s not like i was playing too terribly um i was getting a few bad breaks couple bad bounces that kind of ended up turning into bogeies but um yeah we we used that reset to kind of uh my advantage where you know we went inside took an hour for everything to to blow over and uh i just went back out with a different attitude and and just knew like okay i feel like i’m going to feel like a new guy uh going to forget what happened those first nine holes and and come back out firing and you know i i ended up doing that do you know how many feet of putts you rolled in in the final seven holes did you hear that number jj do you know yeah roughly 130 something 136 136 feet of putts did the hole look particularly large to you over the last few holes no no i just think it was it was just meant to be like everything was just going in you know like no matter if it felt like it was supposed to go in or not like they were just going in like it you couldn’t you couldn’t stop it from happening you know and it wasn’t a it wasn’t really like a confidence thing like i know i’m going to make it i mean yes i was trying to make it but it seemed like i just couldn’t miss no matter how hard how hard i tried well and again listen you know dad first um family first i get it but you know um when you hit the stick on two right you hit the stick on two and it and it flew practically miles away were you sitting there thinking man so you know one kid’s sick the other one gets into bed you know i’m loving that i’m there for them as a dad or whatever but you know this is the united states open here and this may not be my day did you did that go through your head at all jj yeah yeah totally um it’s tough when you execute exactly how you want to and then and then you hit the shot exactly how you plan to and and it takes a bounce like that and that hole was literally a twoot swing um i i thought it would have been a pretty pretty close birdie chance um had it not hit the flag instead it hits it and goes literally we were 53 yards away from the hole that’s what we got calculated our distance for my third shot so i went from probably a tap in to maybe if i was extremely lucky uh to make it to 53 yards away and you know i end up making a bogey instead of a birdie or better but um yeah for a while there the first few holes i was thinking how am i ever going to make a darn par but um it’s just that’s that’s the test us open puts you through everyone goes through it it’s just a matter of what point in the tournament you go through that and how you respond not react man few minutes left with jj spawn us open champion couple days after winning it all uh on quite the father’s day um jj uh we we have a game here called celebrity true or false that we play usually with actors actresses and things of that nature based on stuff that we’ve read to see what’s true or what’s not so much has come out uh about you in the last 48 hours i’ i’d love to see if i could do that with you right here on the program and we have we have like we’ve got the animation we’ve got the production value just because he’s a player doesn’t mean we don’t do it hit it go ahead roll it let’s do it celebrity true or false you can’t handle the truth all right there we go all right all right uh do you like that one jj that’s all right okay thank you appreciate it that’s our precious right there uh true or false your mom your mom um asked doctors when she was eight months pregnant with you if she could still play golf and they approved so she could play exercise playing rounds is that true j what do you think so i’m answering okay you you yes you’re answering is it true is this is this that is true it is true so she’s a she she’s a player and she’s like she’s eight months pregnant with the future us open champ and she asked the doctor permission to continue playing golf is that basically what happened yes yes that is so true ironically she would be out there um playing this par three executive course in uh south pasadena california and you know out there with their big pregnant belly and every everyone out there would see her and just kind of scratching their head like this is a strange sight but um they would say that kid’s going to be a golfer you know and uh i don’t know who knows maybe i was getting the the motion the move in the in my swing you know in the womb as i was developing as a as a child so who knows well is it also true jj spawn that uh your dad would hit range balls with you in a stroller watching so you you could true my god and that he set up a osmosis it’s right and he set up a hitting net in your garage and when you were old enough to actually use it you hit everything in there from uh actual balls to sockets from his toolbox is that true true there’s video there’s video of this stuff yeah so your your folks were like this guy’s gonna play golf c hecker high water is that basically what was happening yeah i mean they didn’t like force me it just was kind of like that was like our family activity you know my my dad would work all week and then they go play golf on the weekend and i was an only child so um i was along for the ride and you know just ended up partaking you know at a pretty young age and is it true you wanted to be a a a skateboarder as well as a kid but you know that is true and why did you stop again cuz i got ran over by a car dude really wait what that happened that is not the true re that’s one of the many reasons i mean i wasn’t good enough but there were a lot of i still have scars and you know wrist arthritis from falling honestly so it was it’s a pretty intense uh extreme sport to have a to take its toll on your body but yeah i mean i eventually wasn’t good enough to make anything of it okay um is it also true you were mix mis your diabetes diagnosis was misdiagnosed and you you lost damn near 50 pounds and your tour card because of it essentially does that happen yes that is true why did you want to keep going jj like why did you why like what what caused you to just say you know what i’m not stopping you were a walk-on that i know is a fact right at san diego state you’re an aztec walk-on um you know and and clearly you you love golf but why why did you say like i’m i’m not losing my tour card this way i’m going to keep going why did you do that well i definitely was kind of trending that way um when i was still going through my misdiagnosis it was when i got rediagnosed and uh diagnosed correctly that kind of gave me like new life um i obviously started to feel better um i started to keep weight on get muscle mass back and i started to perform better too so obviously playing poor golf is miserable and doing it week in and week out for you know a year on the pj tour and and just trying to grind and getting nothing out of everything you put in is is takes its toll but um you know when i when i got correct a correct diagnosis it was kind of like new life and um you know i i’ve just always had that attribute in me to to be resilient and and never give up and uh i’ve kind of always had a chip on my shoulder and i wasn’t going to let something like that kind of you know uh bring me to my knees all right two more facts here i love this a makeshift celebrity true or false with jj spawn you’re doing great thank you great job i hey man i’m a professional sir just like you i know okay i know um true or false you and your your wife have agreed that uh there’s a time limit of your practice you get five hours and then you got to come back to being a family member is that true true where did this come how did how did this happen well it started at uh the century in maui where um uh it’s usually the first event of the pj tour season and uh we went a little early and you know it was our first family trip um in a while it was uh you know kind of postcoid and uh she said stop going to the golf course for so long you need to you know your family’s here we’re in maui this is our first time it’s it’s it’s a tournament that only the tournament of winners get into and uh she’s like let’s cherish this enjoy it so you can only go to the golf course today for 5 hours and you got to come back and and be with us and go to the beach and kind of maybe you need a more of a balance and um you know i’ve been doing that you know especially that week i did that and i end up finishing fifth um at the tournament which is a good um showing and you know it’s kind of been kind of the routine now for for the last few years okay and then last one true or false you’re a dodger fan is that true la dodger fan that is true man it’s all coming up roses for you dude i mean are you oh look at this okay are you a giants fan no no i’m a yankee fan you know the guy the guy on the right just destroyed my october last year that’s all right and the guy on the left you know destroyed a lot of october when he was on the red sox and then last year too but that’s okay you know i’m it’s okay but look at that is is it true you played um the u the at&t pebble breach pro with mookie did you do that yeah mookie was my partner yeah in 2022 how psyched must do you have been on that day yeah i mean that was at that moment that was my highlight of my career you know play with new events like it was pretty sweet at pebble beach i don’t know if you’ve been but it’s it’s quite the place to be oh sure and he’s he’s one of the greatest athletes period right yeah i mean it was incredible he had never played tournament golf ever and here he is just throwing himself into a pj tour proam and you know just with all eyes on him you know he he still you know teed it up and did well so it was a it was a blast dude are you serious he never played i think the first time he plays tournament golf is oh i’ll just do pebble you know yeah he didn’t i don’t even think he played like a member member or anything like nothing kind of low-key it was just i’ll just jump straight into the proam you know wow that is pretty amazing and pretty cool um hey jj congratulations you know obviously an incredible paycheck um that jack nicholas medal that’s that’s somewhere too i imagine right you were wearing that i i wouldn’t have taken that off you know it’s in my backpack yeah in your backpack what well i mean i i am traveling with two kids rich remember that you need to keep it away because they’ll put it on they’ll just think it’s something that they they yeah they’ll probably go hide it somewhere you know two virals they just hide crap what’ you do with my phone where’s my wallet my credit cards are all over the place it’s crazy i’m not even kidding oh by the way i i’ve got three kids i’m with you man um obviously all those rder cup points fedex points um you you know you got your you got your invitation to the open for the next 10 years uh next 5 years for the other three majors exempt status on the tour for five years an invitation to the next five player championships i mean what would the guy who who again who walked on at san diego state lost the tour card had to get back on korn ferry what would that guy have said if he had heard what i just said to you right now jj he probably would have said “i believe it.” um you know i he he’d be proud uh totally shown a lot of perseverance um i’ve i’ve kind of like i said always had a chip on my shoulder always had to prove myself um and i think the yeah the resiliency has been you know the key attribute to me kind of getting to this point in my career where i’m at now all right and then this moment right there that’s got to be on the wall right forever more and yeah first it was the par three at augusta but we’re going to have to switch it out to to this one on the 18th grade well you could do both you know there’s a lot of wall space i’m sure just do both yeah you can have both you can have one for every major you know something yeah yes sir i like it last question for you jj if you don’t mind a moment for for me here uh i am playing in the uh american century championship um in july uh i haven’t played in that tournament in 21 years for me to break 100 is truly the greatest day of my life i am excited to do it but i’m also a little bit freaking out jj i’m not going to lie do you have any advice for me before i go out there with actual humans standing in a gallery with me standing over a t-shot or any shot putt you got you have any advice for me jj yeah i would i would just just remind yourself you’re not a professional golfer no one’s expecting you to play great okay just just go out have fun thank you keep things light try to make a few pars settle the nerves early on then you can start attacking those birdies you know what i mean oh i do know what you mean i’d like it and uh and if it all if all else fails just blame your caddy [Applause] sold sold and thankfully and thankfully my children will be uh in summer camp so they won’t be kicking me in the back or vomiting at 3:00 in the morning the night before you get your beauty yes man i couldn’t have been more happy to watch what you did you know and it’s really cool watching robert mcintyre clapping for you right from the clubhouse the way you rolled it in like screw two putting how does a one putt sound you know um it was awesome and i it’s a pleasure to meet you and i hope this is the first of many times that we get to chat here on the program thank you so much rich pleasure to meet you too thank you so much for having me and uh let’s do it again soon i’d love it oh you know screw it one last do you have a football team because you know i’m an nfl guy you got an nfl team jj unfortunately during my growing up in la usc was like the football team of that city so i don’t have a strong connection with any team jj appreciate the time i know i’ve kept you probably a little bit too long but i i i i uh say thank you no problem anytime rich take care you bet jj spawn 2025 united states open champion what a i mean this is why we watch sports is for stories like that a family guy like that #girl dadad man you know how i feel about my daughter it’s awesome she’s number one stop it catch the rich eisen show live weekdays from 12 to 3:00 p.m