Heading into the 2025 season, J.J. Spaun had never played more than two majors in a single calendar year, with his best result in one of the sport’s four biggest events being a tied for 23rd finish at the 2022 Masters.
Some would have been tempted to doubt J.J. Spaun‘s chances in the final round of the US Open given what happened in the playoff at The Players Championship earlier this year, with the pressure seemingly getting to the 34-year-old in his duel with Rory McIlroy.
He endured a nightmare start on Sunday at Oakmont. Hitting the flag and seeing his ball roll off the second green altogether was cruel. And Spaun ended up making the turn in 40. It appeared that his hopes of victory had been dashed.
However, Spaun fought back to win by two. He produced one of the all-time great US Open moments when he holed the long putt on 18 which confirmed his victory.
J.J. Spaun all but secures his Ryder Cup spot with a victory at the US Open
Spaun went into the week 13th in the qualification standings for the Ryder Cup. But you would imagine that his victory will have secured his ticket to Bethpage in one way or another.
And speaking on Golf Channel, Johnson Wagner suggested that Spaun is exactly the kind of player that Keegan Bradley will love to have on the team.
“To be five over par through six holes, I will be honest I was counting him out of the golf tournament.
Sometimes you get that reset of a rain delay. You get to go back inside. You get to collect your thoughts and go back out and re warm up on the range,” he said.
“If you are playing great, you would never want a delay, but when you are in a funk, to come back out on the eighth hole and make all those birdies coming down the stretch on the back nine, it was unbelievable.
J.J. Spaun is obviously a lock for the Ryder Cup and I can’t think of anybody on that US team who would not want to be his partner in Bethpage.”
Keegan Bradley will be delighted with how the US Open played out
It was definitely an important week for Bradley. Unsurprisingly, Scottie Scheffler had already secured his spot on the Ryder Cup team mathematically.
But depth was threatening to be a problem for the US side. Had Bradley taken the top 12 names in the standings before the US Open, he would have four rookies on his team in New York. Spaun will obviously be a rookie in September, too.
But Cameron Young, Scheffler, Sam Burns, Ben Griffin and Russell Henley all finished inside the top 10 at Oakmont. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka were just outside.
That definitely bodes well for a US side which has seen Europe build the momentum in recent months. They will now have at least two of 2025’s major champions on their team.
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