Usually, the British Open is the major championship in which the weather is the biggest factor, but this year’s U.S. Open might be able to claim that title.
It also possesses perhaps the greatest major-clinching putt ever.
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At 4:01 p.m. in the final round, a downpour came over Oakmont Country Club, and play was suspended with 54-hole leader Sam Burns atop the leaderboard at 2 under with 11 holes to play.
Play resumed at 5:37 p.m., with wet conditions yielding one of the wildest finishes in championship history.
And with a euphoric 64-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, J.J. Spaun hoisted the U.S. Open trophy under Pittsburgh’s fading daylight.
He finished at 1 under, the only player under par in the 156-player field, with a final-round 72.
“To finish it off like that is just a dream,” Spaun said afterward. “You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger [Woods’s] chip (at the ‘05 Masters), you see Nick Taylor’s (72-foot putt at the ‘23 RBC Canadian Open), you see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that at this championship, I’ll never forget this moment.”
WHAT A PUTT!!!!
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2025
J.J. SPAUN WINS THE U.S. OPEN!!!! pic.twitter.com/EWdYQeDAzF
After the delay, the course was drenched. And those who thought they were once out of contention were suddenly back in the hunt. Jon Rahm, who finished early Sunday, held the clubhouse lead at 4 over par, and there were murmurs that he might need to turn his flight around.
Ultimately, Robert MacIntyre became the clubhouse leader at 1 over with a final-round 68. The final group of Burns and Adam Scott had three holes to play. The penultimate pairing of Spaun and Viktor Hovland was on No. 17. And Tyrrell Hatton bogeyed his last two holes with a chance to emerge victorious.
Burns’s lead evaporated with a double on No. 11 and a bogey on No. 12. Then, his chances were mostly dashed on the par-4 15th. Burns asked for a rules official, seeking relief with his ball landing in a soggy lie. But he was denied and made double en route to a T7 finish at 4 over.
“From that point, (Burns’s caddie) Travis [Perkins] and I said, ‘Look, let’s focus on the shot, try to execute,” Burns said of the ruling. “I did the best I could. I was 100% locked in on what I was trying to do. Ultimately, it felt like the water just kind of got in the way, and I went left. It is what it is.”
Scott, seeking his second career major, fell out of the mix with a final-round 79, and Hovland finished in third place at 2 over.
Spaun and MacIntyre were seemingly the two players fazed the least by the delay. Spaun opened up with a bogey-free 66 and was one back of the lead entering Sunday.
Playing the front nine at 5 over in the final round after a series of bad breaks, Spaun plummeted down the leaderboard. But as others imploded after making the turn, two birdies on Nos. 12 and 14 revived his chances at victory.
Spaun took the lead by driving the par-4 17th en route to a birdie. Then, clinging to a one-stroke lead, he was hoping to two-putt from 64 feet for the title. Instead, he holed it—the longest putt by anyone this week.
Pandemonium in Pittsburgh.
In 235 PGA Tour starts, Spaun, who came into the week ranked No. 25 in the world, had one win: the 2022 Valero Texas Open. In eight career major starts, his best finish was a T23 at the 2022 Masters.
A year ago, the 34-year-old Californian contemplated quitting the sport. Then, he watched a movie called Wimbledon, which inspired him to keep going.
“Last year in June, I was looking like I was going to lose my job,” Spaun said, “and that was when I had that moment where, ‘if this is how I go out, I might as well go down swinging.’”
Using that mentality, he didn’t miss a cut after the RBC Canadian Open and kept his card. Fast forward to this past March, he lost to Rory McIlroy in a three-hole Monday playoff at the Players Championship, splashing his tee shot on the famous par-3 17th. But he was so close.
Now, he’s a U.S. Open champion—and boasts an indelible putt that will be replayed forever.
“It’s definitely like a storybook, fairytale ending,” Spaun said, “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.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as J.J. Spaun Wins Wild U.S. Open With Iconic, 64-Foot Putt on His Final Hole .
