The incredible rise of JJ Spaun – from underdog to Tiger Woods and 3am hospital visit

Daily Record

6 hours ago

The American star had come through plenty before he won the US Open at Oakmont
JJ Spaun has revealed the incredible background to his staggering US Open triumph.
The 34-year-old fulfilled a lifetime ambition with his success at Oakmont and a key message from Tiger Woods helped him deny Bob MacIntyre and seal the deal.
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Spaun dealt with plenty on the course in his career and during the brutal final round before clinching, but he also had issues away from it during the night prior to round four when he had to make a medical dash to the chemist with daughter Violet being sick.
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The American sorted that and then sorted the trophy success with his wife Melody and his children in attendance to soak up the amazing moment.
On the pre-round pharmacy trip, Spaun, who suffered anguish earlier in the season when losing a play-off to Rory McIlroy to The Players Championship, explained: 'I was running to CVS in downtown because my daughter had a stomach bug and was vomiting all night long. My wife was up at 3am and she's like: Violet is vomiting all over. She can't keep anything down. It was kind of a rough start to the morning. I'm not blaming that on my start, but it fit the mould of what was going on, the chaos.
'It was a very touching moment to see my girls there [after win]. My oldest daughter 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.
'My daughter, 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. She got to see it. She didn't have to ask me. So that was a really fun moment.
'When I go back home after the round, my kids are there and it's such a big distraction where I'm not even having to dwell on anything or think too much, which is a good thing. Like The Players was tough, I was alone that week. I'm just kind of sitting there at night in my hotel room trying not to go on social media, Twitter or whatever, X. It's nice to be able to have the kids to be around and be a dad. That kind of keeps your mind off golf and kind of gets me in a calm, cool, collective mindset.'
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Spaun also used a lesson from Woods after an awful front nine-nine on Sunday threatened to derail his hopes. He explained: 'I was having lunch with Max Homa at home. We live in the same area. He was telling a Tiger story where he was like: As long as you are still there, you don't have to do anything crazy, especially at a US Open. He's like: Tiger said this would happen and the wind will switch, but you've got to just stay there. Even if you're four back, you've just got to stay there. You don't have to do anything crazy.
'I was thinking about that when I was four back, maybe going back out after the [rain] delay. Then I made some good pars, nothing crazy. Got a really good birdie. Next thing I'm tied for the lead within four holes of the restart.
'That just back to you don't have to do anything crazy at a US Open. All those things came true.'
Spaun has endured struggles before the glory and revealed: 'Last year in June I was looking like I was going to lose my job and that was when I had that moment where if this is how I go out, I might as well go down swinging. That's kind of how my coach tells me about my golf shots or my golf swing on the course. If there's a challenging shot, he's like, at least you go down committing to the shot. Don't bail one out right because you feel uncomfortable, just go down swinging. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. That's kind of the mantra I've been having all year.
'I think it's just perseverance. I've always kind of battled through whatever it may be to get to where I needed to be and get to what I wanted. I've had slumps kind of at every level. I've always went back and said: You've done this before. You've been down before. You got out of it. There's kind of like a little pattern, so hopefully I don't do that pattern again.
'It's definitely like a storybook, fairytale ending, kind of underdog fighting back, not giving up, never quitting. With the rain and everything and then the putt, I mean, you couldn't write a better story. I'm just so fortunate to be on the receiving end of that.'