J.J. Spaun’s camp need to advise him after he could have made big mistake on the 18th hole at the US Open

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J.J. Spaun will be waking up this morning as the US Open champion, and what an incredible feeling that must be.

However, those in and around Spaun should be giving him some strong advice on Monday, after an admission he made immediately after his US Open triumph.

Incredibly, Spaun was up at 3am on the morning of the final round of the US Open, out getting supplies at CVS for his young child.

And he ended Father’s Day as the US Open champion. That really is sensational stuff isn’t it?

There were numerous obstacles the 34-year-old had to overcome at Oakmont all week, notably some rotten luck during his final round on the second hole, when his ball struck the flagstick and bounced back off the green.

The man from Los Angeles and his fellow competitors also had to endure tediously slow play all week long.

However, Spaun was chilled about the pace of play during the US Open, whilst many around him allowed frustrations to get the better of them.

He did so many things right at Oakmont, but it seems like he came very close to making a monumental and entirely needless error on his final hole of the day.

J.J. Spaun came close to making a big error on 18 at the US Open

Spaun almost made a shocking mistake on the 18th hole at Oakmont on Sunday.

He had battled back incredibly well on the back nine, playing almost flawless golf.

The 34-year-old looked like the player on the leaderboard who was most in control of his game and emotions.

He got the job done in the end, but he did make a candid admission about something he did when standing on the 18th green.

Spaun explained, “I didn’t look at the scoreboard. I knew based off of like what the crowd was saying that I felt like, if I two-putted, I would probably win, but I didn’t want to look because I wanted to still — I didn’t want to play defensive. I didn’t know if I had a two-shot lead.

“I didn’t want to do anything dumb trying to protect a three-putt or something.“

In fact, the ‘dumb’ thing he did was not knowing exactly where he stood in the tournament. Just ask Jack Nicklaus his thoughts on those comments and see what he says.

Not looking at leaderboards throughout the day is highly unusual, and there simply aren’t any benefits to not knowing where you stand.

And for Spaun not to know where he actually stood in the tournament when standing on the 18th green was just bizarre.

He obviously got away with it in the end by holing his putt from well over 60 feet, but things could have ended up so differently.

There is nothing to be gained from ignoring the leaderboard in that instance. Spaun is just fortunate that he managed to hit the perfect putt at just the right time.

Two ways Spaun’s US Open approach could have gone horribly wrong

Again, a lot of what I say now seems like a moot point, but it is something that needs to be addressed, because it could affect him moving forward.

Firstly, if Spaun truly didn’t know the state of play, how could he pick a correct line for his putt, without knowing the speed he needed to hit it?

What would have happened if, in his head, he believed he was tied for the lead, and left his putt well short after trying to cosy the ball up to the hole in the hope of securing a play-off?

Or what about if he thought he was one stroke behind, and tried to force the issue by racing his putt by the hole?

Basically, Spaun not checking the leaderboard on the 18th hole at the US Open made both of those scenarios genuinely possible.

He got the job done in the end, and he obviously deserves immense credit for that.

However, next time Spaun is in contention at a major championship, it would serve him well to know what those in and around him are doing.