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J.J. Spaun capped off his U.S. Open victory with a lengthy putt that sealed the deal at Oakmont. He got a little bit of help from Viktor Hovland, and the Norwegian has a thank-you present coming his way courtesy of the man who won his first major.
If you thought J.J. Spaun was going to be one of the top contenders at the U.S. Open this year, you were definitely in the minority.
The 34-year-old only had two wins on the PGA Tour heading into the event (the most recent of which came in 2022), and while he’d notched a few top-five finishes this year (including a loss to Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship), he’d missed the cut in the most recent tournament he played in before heading to Oakmont.
However, he was in sole possession of first place with a one-stroke lead at -4 when play wrapped up on Thursday and remained near the top of the leaderboard before heading into Sunday’s round trailing Sam Burns by one and in a tie for second at -3.
We were treated to a pretty thrilling day of golf that saw Burns collapse on the back nine as Spaun turned things around during the home stretch, and he had the chance to two-putt from 64 feet away to get his first major. However, he only needed one to get it done while ending up as the only player who managed to finish the tournament under par.
Spaun was paired up with Viktor Hovland for the final round, and the latter (who finished in third) attempted an approximately 70-foot birdie putt that required him to follow a similar line before the former stepped up to his ball. It ended up going a few feet past the hole, and Spaun was able to take advantage of that read while putting his right into the cup.
On Tuesday, Spaun acknowledged he benefited from going second while pledging to pay Hovland back for his contributions during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show where he said, “I’ve gotta give him a nice bottle of wine or something—whatever he wants. That was a nice teach, and I think that is just one of the things that has to go your way to win not only a championship but a major championship, and I’m just happy to have capitalized on that little advantage.”
JJ Spaun says he needs to give Viktor Hovland a nice bottle of wine or whatever he wants for giving him the teach on 18 pic.twitter.com/mF2oygKa0S
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) June 17, 2025
Hovland walked away with $1,459,284 for coming in third (he would have made over $430,00 more if he’d made his putt and tied Robert MacIntyre for second), but some classy vino is definitely a solid bonus.