How JJ Spaun Won Golfs Most Impossible Tournament

In this video, we dive into the rise of J.J. Spaun. A golfer who flew under the radar for years. From battling setbacks to finally breaking through, we explore how Spaun defied the odds to win the U.S. Open and what this victory means for the future of his career.

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jj spawn was the ultimate golf journeyman one pj tour win to his name and just a year earlier worried that he’d lose his job playing golf altogether because he wasn’t good enough so how did a man who bogeied five of the opening six holes on chaplip sunday win the hardest major at the hardest course professional golf has to offer to find out first we have to rewind a little to 1990 dolly spawn was an avid golfer and while she was pregnant with her son who would later be named john michael spawn jr she received a doctor’s permission slip to continue playing golf throughout her pregnancy it’s no wonder that by 3 years old jj was hitting hundreds of balls a day into a net in their garage with his brand new set of plastic golf clubs after graduating from high school in 2008 he played collegiate golf in san diego there he became a two-time all- mountain west conference selection in 2010 and 2011 and conference player of the year in 2012 after turning pro on the pga tour canada he finished the season in 35th rank but just a year later he missed six of seven cuts only earning $825 and losing his player privileges before going through qualifying school to reear his card in 2015 he’d entered the pga in 2017 as a rookie and recorded three top 10 finishes in his first year after a few years of nothing exciting he lost his tour card in 2020 before immediately regaining it through the cornferry tour by placing second in the albertson’s boys open and then a few more years again of nothing special after 147 pga starts he’d finally earn his first win at the valero texas open in april 2022 he won by two strokes over matt jones and matt cooer the win qualified him for the 2022 masters tournament the following week making his masters debut he finished tied 23rd there’s a reason that this pennsylvania course has earned a reputation as golf’s ultimate proving ground with its impossibly tight fairways rough that can swallow a golf ball hole and greens so fast they’ve been compared to putting on glass oakmont transforms even the best players in the world into mere mortals and that’s by design this course doesn’t forgive mistakes it multiplies them it’s a place where a missed fairway can lead to scrambling for bogey if not worse and where even perfect shots rarely feel safe all the biggest names were struggling losing their minds at just how challenging the course conditions were with only a handful of the world’s best golfers below par on sunday if hosting the us open at oakmont guarantees anything it’s chaos the list of collapses under pressure here is long and brutal in 2007 leader after leader fell away as angel cabrera scraped out a final round 69 to win with a total score of five over par you heard that right five over was good enough to win a major many players have joked it’s not a test of skill it’s more of an endurance challenge a test of the mind just as much as it’s a test of ability now imagine walking into that crucible as a journeyman a golfer who spends most of his time grinding out cuts hoping to stay relevant on tour that was jj spawn going into the tournament he wasn’t a name anyone brought up when talking about contenders he had a single pj tour win to his name achieved only a year before and many saw him as someone who played just well enough to stick around but hadn’t made a real dent among the elite players and it wasn’t that he lacked skill he is ultimately one of the best golfers in the world but in contrast to household names like maroy sheffller and chauffel he wasn’t someone that you’d bet on to lift a trophy at oakmont his struggles weren’t just on the course either there was a time when he almost gave up on professional golf entirely a string of missed cuts in 2019 left him reeling his confidence completely shattered he admitted later that he wasn’t sure if he even belonged on the pj tour anymore what many didn’t know at the time was that he had been misdiagnosed type 2 diabetes just a year before a condition that left him fatigued and struggling to meet the physical demands of progolf but it turned out the diagnosis was incorrect he actually had type 1 diabetes which requires an entirely different approach to treatment getting his health under control eventually improved his performance but the mental toll of those years seemingly wasted didn’t go away those were meant to be his prime years this wasn’t the kind of background you’d expect from someone poised to win one of the toughest most prestigious majors in the sport the us open has a weight to it that’s hard to overstate just being in contention at the event can define a career winning it that’s what separates great golfers from legends it’s a tournament steeped in tradition with a trophy engraved with the names of icons like jack nicholas tiger woods and ben hogan with greats like phil mickelson never being able to add the trophy to their tally it also represents lifealtering stakes a winner’s exemption that guarantees appearances in major championships for years to come a single massive payday and the kind of respect that takes decades to build in golf if it comes at all for someone like spawn a win would solidify all the years of hard work erase doubts about his career and push him onto a path no journeyman could plan for or expect as he stood in the first tea on that fateful championship sunday he seemed destined to fold like so many others before him he definitely started like it five bogeies in the first six holes he looked like he was cracking under the pressure the leaderboard doesn’t lie and his name slid far enough away from the top that some commentators quietly wrote him off as just another victim of oakmont’s infamous bite but that is the beautiful thing about watching golf at its highest level it’s a sport where the margin between disaster and triumph can shrink in an instant most people watching saw catastrophe spawn however somehow saw a way back still even the greatest comeback stories have a starting point and after such a disastrous opening stretch it felt impossible that this could be one the fairways are some of the narrowest in golf with rough so thick it forces players to lay up instead of going for the green many fans were frustrated at just how long the rough was saying it wasn’t enjoyable seeing the pros hack it out of the tall grass it was so hard that it made it impossible for the players to show their skill the greens themselves notorious for their speed and treacherous slopes left absolutely no margin for error miss by an inch and suddenly you’re staring at a three putt or worse and all this happens under the glare of the us open pressure where every swing feels like it carries the weight of your reputation for spawn to even drag himself to the seventh t without completely imploding required something that most players in this situation wouldn’t find a reset button what’s remarkable about his turnaround wasn’t just the fact that it happened but how it happened after his early collapse you could see something change in his body language he stopped dwelling on the bogeies behind him and started thinking about it one hole at a time his ability to shift focus like that isn’t something new though it’s a skill he’d been forced to develop over years of grinding or the lower tier tours he didn’t come from elite golfmies or country club programs he built his game on mini tours fighting for paychecks where missing a cut didn’t just hurt it could mean not having enough money to travel to the next event that kind of pressure forces you to grow there’s no bailout no margin for excuses it’s either adapt or fade it was during those early years where he found the grit that would ultimately help him pull him back from the brink at oakmont by the seventh hole something had clicked he began stringing together pars refusing to let oakmont’s traps pull him further under his turning point came on the par 49th when he drained a 20ft birdie putt it wasn’t just the first real highlight of his round it was a moment that shifted momentum around this time the field struggles were starting to show the course wasn’t playing favorites the average score in the first round had ballooned to 75.1 numbers that made double bogeies a common sight for even the tournament’s biggest names he didn’t need perfection to climb back into contention he just needed consistency this is where his game management started to stand out unlike some of the flashier names on the leaderboard he wasn’t playing aggressive instead he leaned into his strengths steady iron play and knowing when to play it safe on the unforgiving back nine while others faltered trying to attack tucked pin placements spawn stuck to his plan he turned potential blowouts into manageable bogeies and started chipping away at the deficit by the time he reached the 14th hole he clawed his way back to within striking distance of the leaders a place that no one believed he could be after his start every part he made wasn’t just about the tournament in front of him it was about proving that he belonged with a wife and two daughters willing him on he wasn’t just doing this for him this was a moment to redefine a narrative that had labeled him as just another journeyman his career up until that point had been a story of near misses and fleeting hope the kind of career arc that rarely has a hollywood ending and yet here he was five holes away from a movie worthy story the crowd started to sense something special was going to happen his refusal to crack was impossible to ignore every clutch par save was met with growing energy from the gallery a sign that even spectators love an underdog who keeps swinging by the time he walked off the 17th green one birdie and two clutch pass saves later he wasn’t just in contention he was firmly in the hunt for the first time all day his name hovered near the top of the leaderboard it felt surreal almost improbable but with only one hole left to play the impossible didn’t seem quite so out of reach everything he’d worked for in his career had come down to this moment the scoreboard showed the tightest margin possible spawn tied for the lead a par might force a playoff a birdie would win him the tournament but on a course where even par feels like an accomplishment and every shot carries the weight of history nothing about the 18th felt straightforward the tension hung heavy in the air as spawn stepped onto the tea his entire story years of grinding setbacks and self-doubt had led to this singular test his drive off the 18th t was as pure as he could have hoped for it settled perfectly in the fairway setting up what would be one of the most important approach shots of his life but even from the fairway oakmont never lets its guard down the 18th green was notorious for its serious undulations and slick surface forcing players to calculate every angle and every roll a deep breath and then another and then another he stepped up for his second shot he struck it purely it landed safely on the green but there was a small catch a daunting 64 ft birdie putt with more than its fair share of twists and turns length alone would have made the putt nerve-wracking but the stakes amplified it drastically he now only needed a par two putts to secure it at 64 ft with a championship on the line this wasn’t just about technical skill it was about conquering the kind of pressure that can crush players alltime great of the game have failed under the pressure standing in front of a putt that’s six times shorter the commentators couldn’t avoid stating the obvious making this putt would be a miracle jj took one last breath and addressed the ball the moment stretched on the crowd silenced but charged with nervous energy his putter struck the ball and immediately the gallery’s eyes locked onto its path the weight seemed just right but would it have the legs to get there and then it happened it had the legs somehow against all odds it did the ball dropped into the cup with a sound so definitive so final that for a split second the air seemed to erupt and fall silent at the same time he froze as if needing to process what had just happened then almost in disbelief he let out a triumphant yell and threw his putter into the air his caddy rushed in for an embrace as the gallery exploded the cheers were deafening his wife and kids celebrating in the stands and even his competitors couldn’t help but explode in excitement if they were going to lose a us open this was the way to do it the 64 ft birdie the longest successful putt of the entire championship might as well have been carved into oakmont’s storyried history in real time it was a moment that would be replayed endlessly alongside the iconic shots of legends like ben hogan’s one iron in 1950 or tiger woods’s playoff win in 2008 but what made spawn’s story so different was the contrast of where he started and where he now stood this wasn’t just about a win it wasn’t just about a birdie for him this was the culmination of years spent clawing his way up from mini tours fighting through doubts injuries and misdiagnosed illnesses that nearly drove him to quit the sport entirely as he lifted the us open trophy he reflected on the journey that had brought him here i never thought i would be here holding this trophy the honesty in his voice struck a chord with fans and players alike anyone who had followed his career knew just how deep of a hole he had once dug himself out of and now he stood at the pinnacle of the sport these videos take a long time to make so consider subscribing and checking out one of these videos as well