COVERAGE: Spaun Avoids Rabbit Hole, Snags Early U.S. Open Lead

OAKMONT, Pa. — J.J. Spaun felt that his game was off after finishing 58th at the Memorial Tournament and admitted he went down his own rabbit hole before a realization hit him.

“I’m like, ‘I don’t want to play the U.S. Open thinking about too much in my swing,'” he recalled. “I did a lot of productive preparation. I didn’t really try to mess with my swing. We just tried to work on getting a good feel for the shot pattern that I’m trying to hit, and then we did a lot of short game. I started working with Josh Gregory this week on short game, and he helped me kind of learn how to read the lies in this kind of rough and change my technique a little bit.”

Spaun’s decision has certainly paid off 18 holes into the U.S. Open as he leads by a single shot over Thriston Lawrence after Oakmont Country Club’s only bogey-free first round. The round of 66 tied Andrew Landry’s 2016 effort as the lowest U.S. Open first round score in the club’s history.

His numbers were quite staggering as evidenced by 8.22 strokes gained on the field, four of which came from putting. Spaun nailed 18 of 19 putts from inside 20 feet.

“I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even U.S. Open-wise,” stated Spaun. “This is only my second one. I don’t know if that freed me up in any aspect, but I just tried to kind of take what the course gave me. I hit a lot of good shots and tried to capitalize on any birdie opportunities, which aren’t very many out here. I scrambled really well, too, which is a huge component to playing well at a U.S. Open, let alone shoot a bogey-free round. I’m just overly pleased with how I started the tournament.”

How good was JJ Spaun today?

He holed 18-of-19 putts inside 20 feet.

At Oakmont?!pic.twitter.com/neid5Q0HqV

— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) June 12, 2025

The round got off to quite the fast start as he chipped in on the 10th hole, one of four birdies on the first nine.

“It was funny, my caddie, after I chipped in on the first hole, he goes, ‘Nice chip, Josh,’ ” laughed Spaun, referring to his coach Josh Gregory. “It kind of set the tone for how the day was going to go. You’re not really expecting to chip it in. You’re just trying to get yourself within making distance for par. It was really nice to predict the lie, hit the shot exactly how you want to, and it kind of comes out, and it’s just feeding towards the hole, and it goes in. It was a nice way to start the day, and I obviously kind of rode that momentum throughout the day.”

Spaun did face some tricky moments, such as a tee shot that landed in the fescue of the infamous Church Pews bunker, but he recovered and curled in a par putt.

As for the “rabbit hole” Spaun referenced, it involved not liking that his club position was too down the line at the top. He got it pointed a little more left of target, but that has changed in the last two months.

Because he plays a cut more often than not, it makes it easier for him to swing left of target, but with him not having that, a two-way miss was getting into play. So, for two days he tried to find something, but ultimately, he was uncomfortable with the changes made at home which led him to ponder why he would do it at the U.S. Open, so he bagged it in favor of a follow-through feel.

Spaun is a one-time winner on the PGA Tour, earning that in the 2022 Valero Texas Open but took second in the Players Championship, tied for second at The Cognizant Classic and was a T3 at the Sony Open.

This season has allowed his game to be showcased more than ever. Spaun’s first full season on the PGA Tour was 2016-17, but this is when things have clicked the most.

“I’ve been consistently right there,” Spaun knows. “Everyone knows that the more you put yourself there, the better you’re going to have results and the better you’re going to play, eventually turn one of those close calls into a win. The Players was sort of a kind of spring into the self-belief because it wasn’t like I faked it. Yeah, you can maybe fake it at the Sony and Cognizant or whatever, but to do that at the Players, a course where I’d never done well historically, and to go head-to-head with Rory (McIlroy) on Sunday, and then the playoff was great for my confidence.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t win, but it was great for me to kind of lean back on that experience and know that I can perform on the biggest of stages and handle it with the pressure. There’s going to be a lot of pressure this week, too, and hopefully I can rely on those experiences.”

U.S. OPEN FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD

1. J.J. Spaun -4

2. Thriston Lawrence -3

T3. Sungjae Im -2

T3. Si Woo Kim -2

T3. Brooks Koepka -2

T6. Thomas Detry -1

T6. Ben Griffin -1

T6. Rasmus Neergaard–Petersen -1

T6. James Nicholas -1

T6. Jon Rahm -1