Calm and clutch, Spaun outshined the field at Oakmont
By Garrett Johnston
Former Aztec standout and San Dimas native J.J. Spaun announced himself officially to the world map with a gutsy breakthrough win at the brutally challenging Oakmont Country Club last month in a rain-swept Sunday that ended with his electric long distance birdie bomb that left the Pittsburgh crowd enthralled.
The 34-year-old’s dramatic finish helped add yet another Aztec win to the major championship tally, as an SDSU grad has now won an impressive 3 of the last 6 majors going back to Xander Schauffele’s two last year.
“Wow, it was so awesome for us to see that win. I’m just so happy for J.J., his family, and his team! Go Aztecs!” Spaun’s former college coach Ryan Donovan said. “I always believed in him.”
So where did the belief deep down come from?
“I always thought he had great hands and a very consistent swing. But he also had a bitterness that motivated him because he always played the under card guy,” Donovan said.
Spaun won the Thunderbird Invitational twice in a row while on the Aztec team in 2010 and 2011, and the the San Gabriel Valley native finally punched his ticket to a massive piece of golf immortality by winning at Oakmont-arguably the signature venue of America’s national championship.
Though Tiger Woods can forever boast an emphatic expression in photos of his playoff-forcing putt in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, the 15-time major champ can’t boast a picture of a winning putt at Oakmont from previous years.
In that area, Spaun has Woods and many other great champions beat. The SoCal native’s winning moment will be part of Oakmont’s reverent lore and images for the rest of his existence.
Under the hot lights of the U.S. Open media center on that unforgettable Sunday night, Spaun shared the initial emotions he felt with the iconic trophy right there beside him.
“It just felt like, as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Spaun said after a rain delay spent mostly in Oakmont’s iconic locker room and restart to the final round saw the San Diman’s fortunes turn on a dime.
Spaun started the final round, the most important of his career win or lose, at rain-soaked Oakmont with five bogeys in his first six holes. The eventual champ stood four shots back as the restart got into gear on that dreary yet eventually glorious day.
Spaun’s full-swing coach Adam Schriber observed and spoke with his pupil during that rain delay in one of the most famous sports in golf, the locker room at Oakmont. Schriber said his guy was stressed and reeling as he paced the room.
But one of the pillars of Schriber’s teaching philosophy over the years has always been to express gratitude when coach and player aren’t sure what to do next. So, in a profound and much needed way, he did.
“I said ‘what if it ends up turning out that you and I are two of the luckiest people in the world, and I’ve just got to weather what looks like some shitty breaks in an RV (his axel broke this spring driving between Bay Hill and Sawgrass) and you’ve just got to weather once in a while being up against the lip of a fairway bunker and bad breaks?” Schriber said. “And I swear that made as big a difference as anything on his mind.”
Short game coach Josh Gregory made Oakmont his debut working with Spaun. The rain delay was also his time (because he says he cares so deeply about the young guys he works with) to impart some wisdom on the 34-year-old veteran.
And Gregory didn’t miss a beat.
“I just simply said, ‘hey man, you’ve got two beautiful babies, and a great wife. You would have killed on Monday when you arrived to be four shots back with ten holes to go,” Gregory said. “Man, you’re playing the best golf of everyone in this field. You just had a few bad breaks in the first few holes, but you are the best player here right now. So you will have a chance to win this tournament if you keep your head about you and don’t force it.”
Schriber also added: “If you make golf bigger than it really is then you’re not going to like yourself come Monday or Tuesday. Now go out and play like you know how and have no regrets, and damn sure he did. That was our chat. He’s got a good heart.”
In golf as we all know, you win some and you definitely lose some.
Spaun lost to Rory McIlroy in that aggregate playoff at The Players in March.
“I think he’s just really learned to get out of his own way, and not make golf bigger than it really is. The irony of the U.S. Open is I feel like if we had played Sunday night and we didn’t have all of the delays, we would have won the Players,” Schriber smiles now. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind of that. It’s because we had all of the mojo and mindset. But we had to come back the next day on St. Patrick’s Day with the wind which had completely switched against the Irish kid (Rory).”
Spaun also mentioned sheer grit and tenacity he’s shown this year was a key to ultimately holding the U.S. Open trophy.
“I think the biggest difference this year has been being able to do that. Fortunately, I dug very deep on the back nine, and things went my way, and here we are with the trophy,” Spaun said.
Spaun went on to win in edge of your seat fashion, clipping the field with that unreal birdie bomb on the last, a spot in golf that many would die to have the chance to win a U.S. Open on.
The 34-year-old and his coaches and team soaked in the emotional and life-changing victory on the second floor of the clubhouse that Sunday night toasting with cocktails until 1:30 am in the morning.
Added Gregory of the response from Spaun when they saw each other. “He was more than appreciative, it feels so good. In golf you need that. He’s the kind of guy who’s hungry, but he also wants the ball. What he did at the U.S. Open has given him some more inner belief and validation that ‘hey I can do this’.”
