Latest news with #U.S.Opens
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
U.S. Open 2025: J.J. Spaun hits the shots of his life to win his first major
OAKMONT, Pa. — Some major championships are exquisite exhibitions of athletic grace and mental tenacity, symphonies conducted on fairways. You watch them, and you feel thrilled, energized, even inspired by the generational talent on display. The 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont was none of that. J.J. Spaun won the tournament with a score of -1, but the better way to put it might be he survived the tournament. This was a down-in-the-mud fistfight, a battle against the elements, the course, the field and the self. Advertisement With six holes remaining and rain falling, five players were tied for the lead: Sam Burns, Adam Scott, Tyrrell Hatton, Carlos Ortiz and J.J. Spaun. One stroke behind them: Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre. MacIntyre, with a birdies at 14 and 17, got himself to 1-under. Playing ahead of the pack, MacIntyre stood over a par putt at 18 to set the mark, and he drained it. He was in the clubhouse at +1. Would it hold? Ortiz bowed out with a double bogey at 15, Hovland with a bogey there, and Hatton with bogeys at 17 and 18. Burns ejected with a brutal break at 15 when he wasn't granted relief from what he believed was standing water. Forced to hit it where it sat, he hooked it into the rough, leading to a double bogey. Advertisement Scott, trying to win his first major since 2013, found the rough on just about every hole coming home, and he was done. And then J.J. Spaun hit the shot of his life. Or maybe, the second greatest: That led to a birdie, a one-stroke lead and one par on 18 for the U.S. Open championship. He didn't get par. He drained the putt for birdie ... from 64 feet. "Just to finish it off like that is just a dream," Spaun said after. "You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger chip, you see Nick Taylor's putt, you see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that at this championship, I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life." Advertisement This was a vintage U.S. Open, brutal and uncompromising and requiring everything the leaders had to give. Those who couldn't bring it home will remember this one for a long, long time, and Spaun will remember it forever. Oakmont plays the starring role At most majors, the course is a supporting character, taking a couple key lines here and there but deferring to the stars. Oakmont thundered onto the national stage, its history of hurling around the game's best like dirty laundry making for a sinister overture heading into the tournament. Oakmont's quirks — greased-mercury greens, abandon-all-hope rough, the Church Pew bunkers, the highway that cuts through the heart of the course — all combined to make the course itself the star of the show. No course has hosted more U.S. Opens than Oakmont, and virtually every one of the nine prior to this year featured drama, controversy and gritty, muddy scrambles for the trophy. Advertisement So in retrospect, the entire golf world was pretty naive in thinking that Scottie Scheffler would come in here and ransack the joint, that Bryson DeChambeau would overpower the old warhorse, that Xander Schauffele or Collin Morikawa or Rory McIlroy would use some of their modern wizardry to take down a course that's been humbling champions longer than their grandfathers have been alive. 'When you're in the fairway, there's opportunity,' Scheffler said on Tuesday, 'but what's so special about this place is pretty much every time you're off the fairway it's going to be very difficult for you to get the ball to the green.' Advertisement (This is what is known as foreshadowing.) J.J. Spaun, best known prior to this week as McIlroy's playoff victim in this year's Players Championship, leaped out to the Thursday lead with a bogey-free 66. 'I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even U.S. Open-wise. This is only my second one. I don't know if that freed me up in any aspect,' he said. 'I'm just overly pleased with how I started the tournament.' Others, not so much. McIlroy struggled to a +4 first round and left without speaking to the media. DeChambeau, completely twisted up by the greens, made a mental mistake in dropping his ball on the 12th, but was saved from a penalty by a friendly official. Advertisement 'This golf course can come up and get you pretty quick and you've just got to be on your game, and it got me, and I wasn't fully on my game,' DeChambeau said after his Thursday round. 'Pretty disappointed with how I played.' Si Woo Kim offered up the most direct perspective: 'Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing on the course,' he said. 'Kind of hitting good, but feel like this course is too hard for me.' As tough as Thursday was, Friday proved even more difficult. Spaun surrendered two strokes off his total and gave up the lead to Burns, who finished the day at -3. DeChambeau imploded, missing the cut by three strokes. Phil Mickelson, so often frustrated by the U.S. Open, suffered one last indignity when he melted down on his final three holes and missed a chance to play the weekend by mere inches. Shortly after a disappointed Mickelson left the course, the skies opened up, dousing the few players left on the course and halting the second round early. That led directly to one of the few feelgood stories of this brutal weekend: qualifier Philip Barbaree, with his wife Chloe caddying for him, came back on Saturday morning needing a par on the tough ninth to make the cut. He pulled it off and celebrated; who cares if he finished the tournament at +24? He had a once-in-a-lifetime moment on one of the toughest courses on the planet. 'Knowing that I pretty much had to come out and make par on one of the hardest holes on the course, and then to actually do it, that's what you practice for, that's what you care about,' Barbaree said. 'To be able to pull off a shot like that when it matters, and then with her on the bag, it's special.' Stars exit stage right and left and into the fescue Burns reached -4 on Saturday but couldn't extend his lead; Spaun stuck right with him to finish at -3. Also at -3, and checking in from 2013: Scott, competing in his 97th major. The overnight rains softened the course up; the field averaged two strokes better on Saturday than on the two days prior. Advertisement Meanwhile, stars flickered and fizzled. Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm, Schauffele … none of the game's best could keep up with the pace set by Burns, Spaun and Scott. (Yes, that is a real sentence.) McIlroy, in particular, remained frustrated at his inability to capitalize on his epic Masters win, and unloaded his frustrations on the media by speaking for the first time after a major round since Augusta. 'I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do,' McIlroy said, when pressed about his decision not to speak after his rounds. He later declared that all he wanted out of Sunday was 'hopefully a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here.' McIlroy's frustrations continued on Sunday, though on the positive side he pulled off one of the most impressive club tosses you'll ever see: But McIlroy, like most of the other superstars, was irrelevant to the tournament's final outcome. Burns (-4) and Scott (-3) made up the final pairing, with Spaun (-3) and Viktor Hovland (-1) just ahead of them, and Carlos Ortiz (E) and Tyrrell Hatton (+1) in the third-to-last group. Advertisement 'If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, but this golf course is difficult,' Burns said Saturday evening. 'It takes a lot of patience.' He had no idea how right he would be. Survival Sunday The carnage began early for the leaders. Scott bogeyed the first and third holes, while Burns bogeyed the second and fifth. Ahead of them, Ortiz, Hatton and Hovland all struggled. Spaun, in particular, surrendered five strokes in his first six holes … which, under normal conditions, would have ejected him from the tournament. But these were not normal conditions. Not all of it was his fault. He would later have a ball hit a rake, another spin off the green, and when he made the turn, he had five bogeys on his card and had dropped from the top of the leaderboard. Advertisement Soon thereafter, the weather arrived. At 4:01 p.m., with Burns and Scott standing on the tee at the 8th, the soaking rains returned, washing out the entire field for a full 96 minutes. The course flooded, requiring a squeegee-wielding maintenance crew to attempt to get Oakmont playable once again. Play resumed at 5:40, and almost immediately Burns and Scott both got into trouble off the tee at the par-3 8th, the longest par-3 in U.S. Open history, Burns off the edge of the green and Scott into the rough. Burns was able to get up and down for his par, but Scott dropped a shot to fall back to even. Ahead of them, Hatton and Hovland both fell to +2. Advertisement More critically, Burns surrendered a stroke at the 9th when his tee shot found some of the longest hay on the property on the left side of the hole. Scott's tee shot ended up on a cart path along the right side of the hole, but he was able to convert his birdie. Burns thus turned at -1, Scott at even par, and Ortiz, Hatton, Spaun and Hovland all at +2. And right about then, the rains started up again. This time around, though, there was no thunder, meaning the players were getting doused but continued to play. On the first hole of the inward nine, Burns extended his lead with a birdie to get back to -2. Ahead of him, Ortiz was able to chop his way back into the hunt with a birdie on 11 that dropped him to +1. The tournament turned at No. 15 for both Burns and Scott. Burns, standing in a puddle, asked for relief. He wasn't given it, then hooked his shot over the green, leading to a double bogey. From there, everyone but Spaun and MacIntyre fell off. Advertisement Playing ahead of Spaun, all MacIntyre could do was wait in the clubhouse, where he watched Spaun produce the two most magical shots of his life. Earlier this year, Spaun lost The Players Championship to Rory McIlroy in a playoff. It was a crushing defeat for a player who had one PGA Tour victory on his resume. Three months later, he's a major champion.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
U.S. Open 2025: J.J. Spaun hits the shots of his life to win his first major
OAKMONT, Pa. — Some major championships are exquisite exhibitions of athletic grace and mental tenacity, symphonies conducted on fairways. You watch them, and you feel thrilled, energized, even inspired by the generational talent on display. The 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont was none of that. J.J. Spaun won the tournament with a score of -1, but the better way to put it might be he survived the tournament. This was a down-in-the-mud fistfight, a battle against the elements, the course, the field and the self. Advertisement With six holes remaining and rain falling, five players were tied for the lead: Sam Burns, Adam Scott, Tyrrell Hatton, Carlos Ortiz and J.J. Spaun. One stroke behind them: Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre. MacIntyre, with a birdies at 14 and 17, got himself to 1-under. Playing ahead of the pack, MacIntyre stood over a par putt at 18 to set the mark, and he drained it. He was in the clubhouse at +1. Would it hold? Ortiz bowed out with a double bogey at 15, Hovland with a bogey there, and Hatton with bogeys at 17 and 18. Burns ejected with a brutal break at 15 when he wasn't granted relief from what he believed was standing water. Forced to hit it where it sat, he hooked it into the rough, leading to a double bogey. Advertisement Scott, trying to win his first major since 2013, found the rough on just about every hole coming home, and he was done. And then J.J. Spaun hit the shot of his life. Or maybe, the second greatest: That led to a birdie, a one-stroke lead and one par on 18 for the U.S. Open championship. He didn't get par. He drained the putt for birdie ... from 64 feet. "Just to finish it off like that is just a dream," Spaun said after. "You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger chip, you see Nick Taylor's putt, you see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that at this championship, I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life." Advertisement This was a vintage U.S. Open, brutal and uncompromising and requiring everything the leaders had to give. Those who couldn't bring it home will remember this one for a long, long time, and Spaun will remember it forever. Oakmont plays the starring role At most majors, the course is a supporting character, taking a couple key lines here and there but deferring to the stars. Oakmont thundered onto the national stage, its history of hurling around the game's best like dirty laundry making for a sinister overture heading into the tournament. Oakmont's quirks — greased-mercury greens, abandon-all-hope rough, the Church Pew bunkers, the highway that cuts through the heart of the course — all combined to make the course itself the star of the show. No course has hosted more U.S. Opens than Oakmont, and virtually every one of the nine prior to this year featured drama, controversy and gritty, muddy scrambles for the trophy. Advertisement So in retrospect, the entire golf world was pretty naive in thinking that Scottie Scheffler would come in here and ransack the joint, that Bryson DeChambeau would overpower the old warhorse, that Xander Schauffele or Collin Morikawa or Rory McIlroy would use some of their modern wizardry to take down a course that's been humbling champions longer than their grandfathers have been alive. 'When you're in the fairway, there's opportunity,' Scheffler said on Tuesday, 'but what's so special about this place is pretty much every time you're off the fairway it's going to be very difficult for you to get the ball to the green.' Advertisement (This is what is known as foreshadowing.) J.J. Spaun, best known prior to this week as McIlroy's playoff victim in this year's Players Championship, leaped out to the Thursday lead with a bogey-free 66. 'I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even U.S. Open-wise. This is only my second one. I don't know if that freed me up in any aspect,' he said. 'I'm just overly pleased with how I started the tournament.' Others, not so much. McIlroy struggled to a +4 first round and left without speaking to the media. DeChambeau, completely twisted up by the greens, made a mental mistake in dropping his ball on the 12th, but was saved from a penalty by a friendly official. Advertisement 'This golf course can come up and get you pretty quick and you've just got to be on your game, and it got me, and I wasn't fully on my game,' DeChambeau said after his Thursday round. 'Pretty disappointed with how I played.' Si Woo Kim offered up the most direct perspective: 'Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing on the course,' he said. 'Kind of hitting good, but feel like this course is too hard for me.' As tough as Thursday was, Friday proved even more difficult. Spaun surrendered two strokes off his total and gave up the lead to Burns, who finished the day at -3. DeChambeau imploded, missing the cut by three strokes. Phil Mickelson, so often frustrated by the U.S. Open, suffered one last indignity when he melted down on his final three holes and missed a chance to play the weekend by mere inches. Shortly after a disappointed Mickelson left the course, the skies opened up, dousing the few players left on the course and halting the second round early. That led directly to one of the few feelgood stories of this brutal weekend: qualifier Philip Barbaree, with his wife Chloe caddying for him, came back on Saturday morning needing a par on the tough ninth to make the cut. He pulled it off and celebrated; who cares if he finished the tournament at +24? He had a once-in-a-lifetime moment on one of the toughest courses on the planet. 'Knowing that I pretty much had to come out and make par on one of the hardest holes on the course, and then to actually do it, that's what you practice for, that's what you care about,' Barbaree said. 'To be able to pull off a shot like that when it matters, and then with her on the bag, it's special.' Stars exit stage right and left and into the fescue Burns reached -4 on Saturday but couldn't extend his lead; Spaun stuck right with him to finish at -3. Also at -3, and checking in from 2013: Scott, competing in his 97th major. The overnight rains softened the course up; the field averaged two strokes better on Saturday than on the two days prior. Advertisement Meanwhile, stars flickered and fizzled. Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm, Schauffele … none of the game's best could keep up with the pace set by Burns, Spaun and Scott. (Yes, that is a real sentence.) McIlroy, in particular, remained frustrated at his inability to capitalize on his epic Masters win, and unloaded his frustrations on the media by speaking for the first time after a major round since Augusta. 'I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do,' McIlroy said, when pressed about his decision not to speak after his rounds. He later declared that all he wanted out of Sunday was 'hopefully a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here.' McIlroy's frustrations continued on Sunday, though on the positive side he pulled off one of the most impressive club tosses you'll ever see: But McIlroy, like most of the other superstars, was irrelevant to the tournament's final outcome. Burns (-4) and Scott (-3) made up the final pairing, with Spaun (-3) and Viktor Hovland (-1) just ahead of them, and Carlos Ortiz (E) and Tyrrell Hatton (+1) in the third-to-last group. Advertisement 'If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, but this golf course is difficult,' Burns said Saturday evening. 'It takes a lot of patience.' He had no idea how right he would be. Survival Sunday The carnage began early for the leaders. Scott bogeyed the first and third holes, while Burns bogeyed the second and fifth. Ahead of them, Ortiz, Hatton and Hovland all struggled. Spaun, in particular, surrendered five strokes in his first six holes … which, under normal conditions, would have ejected him from the tournament. But these were not normal conditions. Not all of it was his fault. He would later have a ball hit a rake, another spin off the green, and when he made the turn, he had five bogeys on his card and had dropped from the top of the leaderboard. Advertisement Soon thereafter, the weather arrived. At 4:01 p.m., with Burns and Scott standing on the tee at the 8th, the soaking rains returned, washing out the entire field for a full 96 minutes. The course flooded, requiring a squeegee-wielding maintenance crew to attempt to get Oakmont playable once again. Play resumed at 5:40, and almost immediately Burns and Scott both got into trouble off the tee at the par-3 8th, the longest par-3 in U.S. Open history, Burns off the edge of the green and Scott into the rough. Burns was able to get up and down for his par, but Scott dropped a shot to fall back to even. Ahead of them, Hatton and Hovland both fell to +2. Advertisement More critically, Burns surrendered a stroke at the 9th when his tee shot found some of the longest hay on the property on the left side of the hole. Scott's tee shot ended up on a cart path along the right side of the hole, but he was able to convert his birdie. Burns thus turned at -1, Scott at even par, and Ortiz, Hatton, Spaun and Hovland all at +2. And right about then, the rains started up again. This time around, though, there was no thunder, meaning the players were getting doused but continued to play. On the first hole of the inward nine, Burns extended his lead with a birdie to get back to -2. Ahead of him, Ortiz was able to chop his way back into the hunt with a birdie on 11 that dropped him to +1. The tournament turned at No. 15 for both Burns and Scott. Burns, standing in a puddle, asked for relief. He wasn't given it, then hooked his shot over the green, leading to a double bogey. From there, everyone but Spaun and MacIntyre fell off. Advertisement Playing ahead of Spaun, all MacIntyre could do was wait in the clubhouse, where he watched Spaun produce the two most magical shots of his life. Earlier this year, Spaun lost The Players Championship to Rory McIlroy in a playoff. It was a crushing defeat for a player who had one PGA Tour victory on his resume. Three months later, he's a major champion.
New York Post
5 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
What Scottie Scheffler blamed for uncharacteristic US Open struggles
OAKMONT, Pa. — Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 ranked player, simply never got it going this week. Despite entering the U.S. Open as the overwhelming favorite to win, having won three of his previous four starts (including the PGA and the Memorial), Scheffler finished with an even-par 70 on Sunday to finish 4-over par. Scheffler, who leads the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance, had 17 of them (and a double), which is more than he has made in any PGA Tour event in his career. A low point to his day came on No. 3, where Scheffler three-putted for the sixth time of the tournament en route to a sloppy double bogey. 'I felt like I did some good things out there,'' Scheffler said. 'A few more putts drop today I think it's a little different story. My first three days, I felt like I was battling the whole time. Today I hit some shots. I hit some putts that I really thought were going in, hit some lips. It was just challenging. I was just right on the edge today. 'My main takeaway is I battled as hard as I did this week. I was really proud mentally of how I was over the course of four days. I did a lot of things out there that could really kind of break a week, and I never really got that one good break that kind of propels you. I'd hit it this far off, and seemingly every time I did, I was punished pretty severely for it.'' Scottie Scheffler reacts during the final round of the U.S. Open on June 15, 2025. AP Hours before the lead groups approached the 18th hole, Jon Rahm was the leader in the clubhouse at 4-over after shooting the low round of the day at 3-under 67. He got there with birdies on his final three holes and said the difference was his accurate driving. 'It's crazy because it doesn't feel like I played that different to every other round,'' Rahm said. Rory McIlroy equaled Rahm's 67, but he finished 7-over, which ended an impressive streak of four consecutive U.S. Opens that he's finished under par. McIlroy carded seven birdies in the first three rounds and six on Sunday. The par-3 eighth hole was playing 302 yards on Sunday, making it the longest par-3 in U.S. Open history. 'Luckily, it was downwind, I'll just say that,'' Rahm said. 'How do you approach that? You most likely pull the head cover off one of the clubs and then hope it goes straight. Today, I chose to hit a 5-wood. I think 3-wood I could have landed it closer to pin high.' Justin Hastings was the only one of 15 amateurs in the field to make the cut, so he was going to finish as the low amateur regardless of what he shot on the weekend. He finished 15-over after Sunday's final-round 76. 'It was such a treat just to be able to play in the U.S. Open and then let alone have the success to be able to call yourself low amateur,' said Hastings, a native of the Cayman Islands. 'It's something I'll hold onto for the rest of my life.'' Hastings earned his way into the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open fields by winning the Latin America Amateur Championship in January. Justin Hastings looks on during the final round of the U.S. Open on June 15, 2025. Getty Images 'That tournament, I can't even describe it with words how big it's been for me,'' he said. He said he plans to turn pro after the British Open next month. 'We want to get on the PGA Tour as soon as possible,'' he said. 'My coaches like to say that good golf takes care of all that, so we're going to focus on playing as well as we can, and when we get opportunities the next few months.'' Canadian Corey Conners withdrew before his final round was to begin with a wrist injury. The 33-year-old Conners, who was competing in his seventh U.S. Open, was scheduled to tee off at 10:20 a.m., paired with Ryan Fox, of New Zealand. He had his best finish in a U.S. Open last year, when he tied for ninth at Pinehurst, has a top 15 finish in all four major championships and has won twice on the PGA Tour. The injury reportedly occurred when Conners took a shot out of a bunker on Friday and his club got caught on a TV wire for a bunker camera.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
What is the US Open playoff format and how is it used to decide the winner? all you need to know
The US Open has witnessed 33 playoffs in 124 versions of the national championship, but none in the last decade and a half. It was almost 17 years ago, in 2008, that golf fans saw the famous Monday playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. That playoff was not decided even after the 18-hole playoff. It was in the year 2018 when the U.S. Golf Association revamped its playoff format for the U.S. Open. However, the format remains untested. U.S. Open playoff format The U.S. Open playoff format is a two-hole aggregate playoff. It means that the players tied after 72 holes will play two holes, and the player with the best score thereafter will be declared the winner. In the two-hole aggregate playoff, they will play the short par-4 17th and par-4 18th holes, and the low score for the two holes will take home the victory. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like How much is your car worth? Take a look here Cars | Value Click Here Undo However, if Holes No. 17 and 18 are played and golfers remain tied, then the players will then resume in a sudden-death format. They would begin at the 15th hole, then 16, 17, and 18, respectively. This will continue until a winner is ultimately determined. When did the last US Open playoff at Oakmont take place? According to Golf Week, the last time the US Open playoff at Oakmont took place was in 1994, when Ernie Els required one to win his first of two U.S. Opens. Jack Nicklaus also secured the U.S. Open in a playoff in 1962. Tommy Armour did the same in 1927. 2025 marks the 10th U.S. Open at Oakmont. It is the most at any course. Live Events
NBC Sports
5 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
J.J. Spaun makes 64-foot birdie putt at final hole to win U.S. Open
Sam Burns, the final player under par at the 2025 U.S. Open, cards a costly double-bogey on the 11th hole to return to even par at Oakmont. J.J. Spaun added supreme clarity to one of the most uncertain U.S. Opens by making a 64-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win the 125th edition. It was his first PGA Tour title, a major championship. It was also a surprise finish to a surreal day, in which Spaun began the final round with five bogeys over his first six holes at Oakmont Country Club. Following a 96-minute weather suspension, Spaun returned and proved to be the steadiest in the field. His mundane march back up the leaderboard turned pyrotechnic when he drove the green at the 314-yard, par-4 17th and two-putted from 18 feet for birdie and the lead. He then split the fairway on the par-4 18th but hit his approach shot 64 feet, 5 inches from the hole. After playing competitor Viktor Hovland putted on a similar line, Spaun rolled his perfectly into the hole for victory — the longest putt made by anyone in the field all week. Spaun, who lost to Rory McIlroy in a playoff at this year's Players Championship, finished two shots clear of Robert MacIntyre, who posted 68 and watched to see if there would be a Monday playoff. Unlike at The Players, there would not.
