During the embryonic stages of the 2025 US Open final round, it appeared as though the golfing Gods were not at all on JJ Spaun's side.
The American began his fourth round at Oakmont on three-under-par and just a stroke behind 54-hole leader, Sam Burns who was in the group behind him.
Spaun's quest to win a maiden Major began in frustrating circumstances anyway when he found the rough on both sides of the fairway at the first hole and subsequently went on to make bogey.
Obviously keen to recover the situation as quickly as possible, the 34-year-old found the short grass at the 352-yard second and was left with just under a ton to the hole - 94 yards, according to USGA data.
What happened next was both incredibly cruel and desperately unlucky. Spaun took dead aim at the flag and appeared to have executed the perfect shot as it travelled at speed towards the back-left pin location.
However, after taking one bounce off the lightning-fast green, his ball cannoned off the black and white flagstick and began hurtling in the opposite direction away from the hole. Given the back-to-front nature of the putting surface, Spaun's ball rolled further and further before meeting the apron and a pretty severe false front.
It carried on scuttling along onto the fairway until it finally came to rest roughly 50 yards from the flag. Spaun's golf ball had been rejected over half of its original distance.
Speaking on Golf Channel's broadcast, host Dan Hicks called it "one of the worst breaks we've seen all week." On Sky Sports Golf's coverage, analyst David Howell labelled the moment "the worst break of Spaun's life."
Still holding a chance of saving par if he could get up and down, the San Diego State University alumnus clipped one to eight feet but agonizingly missed the par putt by inches, leaving him two-over through a couple of holes on Sunday.
Cruel game. pic.twitter.com/MxHUSWsHvOJune 15, 2025
Unfortunately for the 2022 Valero Texas Open winner, a bad start would become even worse at the very next hole.
Set to tackle the 459-yard par-4, Spaun struck a 266-yard tee shot into the first cut down the right. But an under-hit second left him in a similar position to the third and, once again, he was unable to produce the necessary up-and-down to save par.
