JJ Spaun is more in Oakmont US Open Lore than you think

Oakmont Country Club’s championship bloodline is legendary. Walk along the History Hall in the clubhouse and you will see a golf royal celebrity who cancels the American Open Trophy in an iconic class.

Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tommy Armour, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson and Ernie Els are all the people who decorate the walls of the photo. Add to the PGA Championships of the course and American amateur history and you get names like Bobby Jones and Sam Snead. Outside of Sam Parks Jr., who won the 1935 U.S. Open, Oakmont saw only the best of the best exams. Fluke does not exist in the dictionary of anchor websites.

As the final round of the 2025 U.S. Open unfolds, Oakmont’s past proposes some choices about who will be the last one. Adam Scott added a second major win to his outstanding resume. Viktor Hovland took to the next level and won his first place. Scottie Scheffler or Jon Rahm charged Sunday while the rest of the field members returned to them, which would be the perfect ending for Oakmont.

Of course, JJ Spaun has other ideas to complete Birdie-Birdie becoming the impossible Oakmont champion.

I think of his place in Oakmont’s history as Spaun added a 65-foot birdie putt to the 72nd hole to make his unlikely victory exclamation mark, and his putt plunged into the air. From now on, Spaun will have his own case in the History Hall. On the surface, the 34-year-old appears to be an outlier in Oakmont. He is to some extent, but there is more connection than you think.

“The guys and ladies who win here are often divided into two categories,” Oakmont Club historian and archivist David Moore told Golf.com. This is the first major or breakthrough after their struggles a few years after the tour, such as Tommy Armor, Jack Nicklaus, Paul Creamer, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson and Ernie Els. They are suitable for such shaping, which is their first major champion, but they feel they are their ascension. Sam Snead won the end of the road.

However, Moore saw similarities between Spaun and two past Oakmont winners: John Mahaffey, John Mahaffey won the 1978 PGA championship at Oakmont, and Hogan and Hogan won the 1953 U.S. Open.

“If I had to equate him with any of our champions, it was John Mahaffey,” Moore said. The reason was that Mahaffey was trapped in the PGA in the wilderness. He experienced a painful divorce and injury. He just started to retake something and find his position. He won the PGA in the playoffs and won the playoffs. No one expected him to enter and win. He didn’t even expect to win the game. He won the game. He won the game. He won the win game. He won the game. He won the game. champion.

“It changed everything about John. I can’t help but imagine the story I heard similar. He almost lost his cards a few times. He almost lost his cards last year. He started to tour in Canada, working hard, and struggling hard. The personal struggle Mahafi did wasn’t necessarily a professional effort in this effort. It seemed like a good thing, and I think JJ’s move forward was fun.

But despite Spaun’s story and career so far, he entered Oakmont’s third box, his electric finish, where he drove green on the 4th pole, connecting with legendary Hogan before the 65-foot-tall win, who also tied with legendary Hogan.

“There’s one thing so cool that’s parallel to Ben Hogan,” Moore said. “They both won the Texas Open, and they both won here. [for birdie]. Both of them basically hit the same shot on 18: the driver, 6 irons, making a birdie putt to close the U.S. open. Some similarities are crazy. ”

Regardless of how Spaun’s career develops, and whether his career touches other Oakmont champions, his enduring image of his life-changing victory will forever be linked to Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer’s 1962 duel and Johnny Miller’s historic Sunday 63.

“Pushing [on 18] Moore is iconic,” Moore said. “I’m right there, I’m standing there with him, putting in the air, the caddie raises his arms in the background, which will be the iconic picture of moving forward here. ”

In Oakmont’s golf icon, where ever life is Oakmont, Spaun’s putt makes him a worthy member of the club, and there are many stories to write.