J.J. Spaun goes bogey-free, ties for lowest opening U.S. Open round at Oakmont with 66

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3 days ago

J.J. Spaun goes bogey-free, ties for lowest opening U.S. Open round at Oakmont with 66
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J.J. Spaun calls it his best putting day of the year
J.J. Spaun navigated Oakmont's tough setup with sharp putting and gritty play in round one of the U.S. Open.
USGA
J.J. Spaun shot a bogey-free 66 in the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, tying the record for the lowest opening round score at that course in a U.S. Open.
Spaun made four birdies in his first eight holes and then made 10 consecutive pars, including several long putts.
Spaun considered a career change last season but was inspired by the movie "Wimbledon" to continue playing.
OAKMONT, Pa. – J.J. Spaun can't miss even when he tries.
To show how slick the greens are at Oakmont Country Club, Spaun attempted to miss a putt for a segment on ESPN's SportsCenter on Wednesday and the putts kept going in. That carried over to the opening round of the 125th U.S. Open, where Spaun drained six par putts of seven feet or longer.
'Don't try so hard, I guess,' he said.
Spaun signed for a bogey-free round of 4-under 66 on Thursday, tying Andrew Landry in 2016 for the lowest opening round score at Oakmont during a U.S. Open. There were 443 rounds played at the 2016 U.S. Open and only one player managed a bogey-free round – Dustin Johnson also in the first round. Spaun benefited from playing early in the morning under favorable scoring conditions and took advantage. Still, only five players in the morning wave managed to break par on the cruel course not far from the blue-collar city of Pittsburgh.
'I was scared. I was like, 'Damn, I don't know what I'm going to shoot today,' ' said Spaun, who shot his low 18-hole score in a major and was a shot better than South Africa's Thriston Lawrence.
Starting at 10, Spaun chipped in for birdie from 20 feet off the right edge of the green, and it settled his nerves. He said he thought to himself, 'This is going to be one of those days,' he recalled. 'Kept running with it.'
Spaun, 34, made his four birdies in his first eight holes and then hung on for dear life with 10 straight pars. He holed par putts of 17 feet, 12 feet, and three times from 7 feet. When he drained a 12-foot par saver at the first, his 10th hole of the day, he was officially in the zone.
'Curled it in there,' he said, 'and it felt like one of those days where you couldn't really miss anything that was a reasonable putt to make.'
In addition to the fast start chipping in for birdie, Spaun was perfect in scrambling, getting up and down in all six attempts. On Monday, he started working with short-game coach Josh Gregory.
'He helped me kind of learn how to read the lies in this kind of rough and change my technique a little bit,' Spaun said.
Funny enough, Spaun has been fighting his full swing, particularly his club position at the top, which was a little too down the line for his liking, and after the Memorial, he attempted to tweak it.
'I kind of went down the rabbit hole a few days at home and just kind of threw it out the window a few days before coming here,' he said. 'I feel uncomfortable playing at home with this; how am I going to do this at the Open?'
Spaun has one career PGA Tour title to his credit and during a tumultuous campaign last season he considered whether his playing career had stalled and he should find a new line of work where he could be at home more often with his young kids. It was a surprising concession from golf's version of a Yorkshire Terrier. In a game focused on the Dobermans and Malamutes, Spaun is fearless, punching above his weight and fits in well near the Alleghany Mountains with his coal miner's complexion.
Spaun rallied late in the season to keep his card, putting the job search plans on hold, and this season pushed Rory McIlroy all the way to a three-hole aggregate playoff at the Players Championship in March. How far down the road did he get to finding a new career? Not that far, he admitted.
'I hoped I made enough to retire,' he said.
But on a December flight to England, he watched the movie 'Wimbledon,' and it provided an attitude adjustment of sorts. The plot of an older, washed-up tennis pro who ends up winning arguably the most famous major in the racquet sport just as he's thinking of quitting, resonated with Spaun. 'Maybe that could be me,' he said.
So far, the script at the U.S. Open is writing itself for Spaun.