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Who is J.J. Spaun? The 2025 U.S. Open Champ Who Took the Long Way to the Top
By: Patrick Stephenson
J.J. Spaun after his U.S. Open win at Oakmont.
If you didn’t know J.J. Spaun before Oakmont, you do now. The 34-year-old pulled off one of the most memorable major finishes in recent history at the 2025 U.S. Open—storming back from a rough front nine, rolling in a 64-foot birdie on 18, and walking off with a two-shot win that had every golf fan asking:
Who is this guy?
Spaun was born and raised in Los Angeles. He played his college golf at San Diego State, where he was Mountain West Player of the Year, but after turning pro in 2012, things didn’t exactly take off. He grinded through the mini-tours—Gateway Tour, PGA Tour Canada—and finally broke through in 2015 by winning the Order of Merit up north. That got him status on the Korn Ferry Tour (then Web.com), where in 2016 he won the News Sentinel Open and finished first on the money list.
That earned him a PGA Tour card for 2017, and early on, he showed promise. Top 10s, a few close calls—but no win. Then came a tough stretch: health issues, including a diabetes diagnosis, inconsistent form, and a real crisis of confidence. By 2020, he’d nearly lost his status.
But Spaun didn’t fold. In 2022, he finally got his first PGA Tour win at the Valero Texas Open, nearly a decade after turning pro. It was validation, but not the end of the road.
Fast forward to 2025, and Spaun’s game caught fire. He had a couple of strong showings early in the year, then put it all together at Oakmont—on one of the game’s most brutal stages. The result? A major champion no one saw coming, and a career forever changed.
J.J. Spaun’s story isn’t flashy. It’s better. It’s real. And it’s most likely, just getting started.
