4 moments from J.J. Spaun’s U.S. Open win you might have missed

J.J. Spaun might be in New York City right now (or on to Connecticut!), but we’re still thinking about Oakmont, Spaun’s incredible finish and his first major title.

In case you don’t remember, Spaun, who a year ago was questioning if he was even going to continue in pro golf, started Sunday tied for second and one off the lead held by Sam Burns. Spaun then made five bogeys in his first six holes, and while it seemed easy to write him off, he hung around, played the last seven in three under and drained a 65-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to win by two.

But even though the tournament was decided, the night didn’t end there. Here are four memorable moments you might have missed the rest of the way.

Passing of the flag

Spaun won the U.S. Open when he made his birdie on 18, posting one under par well ahead of Burns and Adam Scott, who were playing in the pairing behind him. Scott and Burns still technically needed to play the 18th, because that’s what you do in golf tournaments, so Spaun’s caddie Mark Carens couldn’t take the flag (as is caddie tradition). But someone had his back. As Spaun finished up in the scoring area, Carens, emerged from the room and found plenty of people there to congratulate him, including well-known former caddie.

As Carens hung around outside scoring, up walked Jim “Bones” Mackay, the long-time caddie who looped for Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas. Now he’s an on-course reporter for NBC, and he spent his Sunday walking with the final pairing. So when that group finished, Bones snagged the pin and flag, walked it over to scoring and handed it to Carens, who will keep that in a prominent place for the rest of his life.

Team game

Did you see Spaun’s coaches, Adam Schriber and Josh Gregory, celebrate after the victory? Few were more pumped than these guys, and with good reason.

Spaun has worked with Schriber the last couple of years, while Gregory recently came on as a short-game coach. They were also both instrumental in getting Spaun back on track during the rain delay following his early struggles on Sunday. Spaun was five over through eight holes and four back of Burns when the delay hit.

“They were just like, ‘Dude, just chill. If you were given four shots back going into the back nine on Monday, you would take that,’” Spaun said. “They just said, ‘Just let it come to you, be calm. Stop trying so hard.’ That’s what I was doing. I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day. It just unravelled very fast. But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament.”

Spaun and Gregory have known each other for years and met a couple of times to look at Spaun’s short game this year but just started fully working together at the U.S. Open. Good timing.

“For him to reach out during his best year of his career and say, ‘Hey, I need help,’ that shows the character of him. Like, ‘I want to be elite,’” Gregory says. “That shows who he is, and he wasn’t just settling for being where he was.”

Spaun said Gregory’s ability to read lies in the rough — and dictate how the ball would come out — was a huge help at Oakmont.

“The first hole of the tournament, I’m dead, short-sided on 10 in the rough, not far from the pin but it was dead because it was on the wrong side of the green,” Spaun said. “I’m not going to tell the secret, but we try to do the secret, and I chipped it in. My caddie goes, ‘Nice shot, Josh.’ It was nice to see that come to fruition so quickly.”

‘You did it!’

A few minutes after Carens received his flag from Bones, he followed Spaun and a dozen others out of scoring, around the corner and over the walkway that takes players and caddies to the 18th green. On top of the bridge, right above where the spectators walk below, a friend of Carens noticed him and, from about 30 yards away, started running toward him and yelled, “Mark, you did it!” Carens stopped and raised both hands. He did it, indeed.

‘I lost it’

After the trophy presentation, Spaun started walking to the far side of the green — he had just spotted his dad.

John and J.J. hugged, and John told his son he was proud of him.

“As soon as he was walking toward me with that trophy, I just lost it,” John said. “Tears. I just couldn’t hold it in.”

(You can read more about J.J. and John and this moment here.)

It wasn’t just a great Father’s Day for John Spaun, but J.J., too. His wife and two daughters got to celebrate with him.

“It was a very touching moment to see my girls there,” he said. “My oldest daughter, she was at the Valero when I won, and she was about the same age as my youngest daughter now. It was so cool to just have my whole family there on Father’s Day. It’s just incredible. I have no words to describe the moment and them being able to see me as the winner.

“My daughter always asks me, every time dad goes golfing, she’s like, ‘Were you the winner today?’ Sometimes I’m like, Yeah, I was. She’s like, ‘Where’s my surprise?’ So today she’s like, ‘You’re the winner today.’ Like she got to see it. She didn’t have to ask me. So that was a really fun moment.”

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