The Punter's US Open De-brief: Sensational Spaun seals the deal after slow start

• Odds-on Burns falls short at Oakmont

• Weather delay sees Spaun reset for victory

• Read my Travelers Championship preview here

The world number 25, JJ Spaun, teed it up at Oakmont on Thursday as a triple-figure priced outsider at the 125^th US Open.

Although he'd had a few near misses, at the Sony Open in January, where he'd finished one shot shy of the playoff, at the Cognizant Classic, where he'd finished second, beaten by two, and at the Players Championship in March, where he was beaten by Rory McIlroy in extra time, having missed the cut at the Memorial Tournament last time out, he wasn't high on many likely winner lists. 

Although he hadn't made the weekend at Muirfield Village, he'd finished tied for sixth in the Chales Schwab Challenge in his penultimate start, and he gave another clue to his wellbeing when doing a piece for TV on Wednesday.

He was supposed to demonstrate how tough the greens were at Oakmont, but he kept rolling them in and that may have had something to do with him shortening from a high of 360.0359/1 on Monday to under 300.00299/1 by the off.

Spaun carried that putting form forward to the event itself to post the only bogey-free round on Thursday and to lead the Championship by a stroke.

The 34-year-old shortened up overnight from 15.529/2 to 14.013/1 after his opening round of four-under-par and he was a 9.617/2 chance at halfway following a solid two-over-par 72 on Friday which saw him sitting alone in second, one adrift of Sam Burns, one ahead of Viktor Hovland in third and two ahead of Adam Scott.

There was very little change at the very top of the leaderboard in round three. Scott closed to within a stroke of the leader with the equal best round of the day - a three-under-par 67 - but Burns and Spaun shot matching 69s and Hovland slipped down a place to fourth after his level par 70.

That quartet were the only players under-par with a round to go, and it was still very hard to call.

Burns, with a one-stroke lead, was a 2/13.00 chance, Scott, who was tied for second with Spaun, traded at 4.3100/30 on Sunday morning, Spaun drifted from 5.49/2 to 5.79/2 before the off, and the money came for Hovland, who shortened up throughout the day from 8.07/1 to 7.26/1.

Spaun started poorly, missing the first fairway miles right before hacking it across to the rough on the left and he did very well to make a bogey five, but he caught an awful break on two when his approach shot hit the pin.

J.J. Spaun hit the flagstick ...

And then his ball rolled all the way back into the fairway. https://t.co/WUVD2lX91q pic.twitter.com/eKal1HV6NX

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 15, 2025

Spaun opened up round four with five fives in-row and he drifted all the way out to 48.047/1 before he steadied the ship with a pair of pars at seven and eight before rain stopped play.

As they sat in the clubhouse waiting for the rain to abate, Burns led Scott by a stroke with a charging Tyrrell Hatton tied for third alongside Hovland. On five-under-par for the day, Spaun sat tied for fifth alongside Carlos Ortiz, four off the lead and trading at 33/134.00.

Burns, who was trading at around 2.35/4 for the hour and 40 minutes that play was suspended, was matched at as low as 1.564/7 when he birdied the 10^th to take a two-stroke lead over Scott, who himself was matched as low as 2.89/5, but the two struggled badly after that.

Burns double-bogeyed the 11^th and we had a five-way tie at the top between Burns, Scott, Hatton, Spaun and Ortiz after the 54-hole leader followed the double at 11 with a bogey at 12.

Spaun broke out of the tie with a birdie at 14, his second since play resumed but he wasn't in front for long, and after a bogey at 15, four men were tied on one-over-par - Spaun, Burns, Hatton, and a charging Robert MacIntyre, who had just one hole to play.

Brits come close to Oakmont Glory

Hatton was matched at a low of 2.789/5 before missing a birdie putt at 16 that would have seen him hit the front, but he fell out of the reckoning with bogeys at 17 and 18 and sat in the house on +1, MacIntyre emerged the most likely winner.

Bidding to tie the record for the biggest 54 hole comeback victory in US Open history (seven strokes), the Scot was matched at just 2.26/5 but with Burns and Hatton slipping away, after a lengthy two-putt par at 16 to remain alongside Macintyre in the clubhouse, Spaun produced a miraculous finish to seal the deal.

His tee-shot at the drivable par four 17^th to 17 feet enabled him to make the simplest of birdie threes at the penultimate hole to hit the front but he still had work to do on the 72^nd hole when his approach shot left him 64 feet above the hole.

A playoff still looked a distinct possibility, but fate had other ideas. Having caught a number of bad breaks before the weather delay, the Golfing Gods had evened things out when play had resumed and a composed Spaun produced one more piece of magic on the final green to win by two.

J.J. SPAUN IS A MAJOR CHAMPION!!pic.twitter.com/WgwNNHl5dy

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 16, 2025

The reactions of both Hatton and Macintyre to Spaun's monstrous putt on 18 can easily be found on social media and they're both fantastic, demonstrating the very best of the sport.

Spaun's previous best in a major had been his tied 23^rd at the 2022 US Masters and this was just his second PGA Tour victory in his 236^th start.

Now up to number eight in the Official World rankings, Spaun is the first player to win the US Open in only his second appearance since Webb Simpson back in 2012, having missed the cut on debut at Torrey Pines in 2021, and he was the only man to break par for the week, signing for a one-under-par total of 279.

It was a tough week betting wise and it was frustrating to see my 150.0149/1 Find Me a 100 Winner fancy, Cameron Young, finishing just shy in a tie for fourth but it was a profitable week.

As highlighted in the In-Play Blog, I backed the winner on Thursday night at 15.529/2.

There's no DP World Tour event this week but the PGA Tour hops from Pennsylvania to Connecticut for its traditional post US Open stop in Cromwell - the Travelers Championship - and I've previewed the event here.

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Now read more golf previews and tips here