He needed a par or better to win at Oakmont Country Club. Open title. He just saw Viktor Hovland miss the cup from around the same angle. And when it was his turn to putt, J.J. Spaun buried the most accurate 64-foot putt ever to capture the 2025 U.S. Open title. With that, he completed one of the biggest goals of his life: to win a major event. After being crowned the champion, Spaun sat down for the press conference, where he confessed how he put Tiger Woods‘s wisdom into practice to achieve the feat.

One of the journalists asked him, “You talked about your close calls this year and how adversity is a really, really good teacher. What are those lessons that you drew from that really helped you bring it across the finish line today?” Spaun had quite a few close finishes this season. His playoff loss against Rory McIlroy in THE PLAYERS Championship was probably the most heartbreaking one this year. The 34-year-old continued to have his feet on the ground as he explained how he dealt with the pressure.

Spaun said, “I just felt like you keep putting yourself in these positions, like eventually you’re going to tick one off. This isn’t — I don’t put myself in this position often, or at all, for a major, that’s for sure. This is only my second U.S. Open. But all the close calls that I’ve had on the PGA TOUR this year has just been really good experience to just never, never give up.” At the Sony Open, he finished third, and at Cognizant, he was a runner-up. On Sunday at Oakmont, he managed to score five bogeys in the first six holes, was 5-over at the end of the front nine, but he didn’t give up. He believed that if he found it difficult to play on the course, so would others.

Recollecting his conversation with one of his friends, the 2025 U.S. Open champion said, “Actually, I was thinking about — I was having lunch with Max Homa at home. We live in the same area. We belong at the same club. He was telling a Tiger story where he was like, As long as you just like are still there, you don’t have to do anything crazy, especially at a U.S. Open. He’s like, Tiger said this would happen, and the wind will switch, but you’ve got to just stay there. Even if you’re four back, you’ve just got to stay there. You don’t have to do anything crazy.”

As Spaun confessed, he picked up the ‘never give up’ lesson from what Woods said. We mean, who better to take wisdom from for winning a major than the man who has done it 15 times over (probably Jack Nicklaus, but that’s a different conversation). Taking Tiger Woods’s tips to heart, Spaun stayed in contention, pushed until the end, and once things were all said and done, he came out victorious.

Speaking about his mindset at Oakmont after the disastrous front 9, the 2-time champion added, “I kind of was thinking about that out there this afternoon, where I was four back, maybe going back out after the delay, and then I made some good pars, nothing crazy. Got a really good birdie. Then, next thing you know, I’m like tied for the lead, I think, and within four holes of the restart. That just kind of goes back to that, like you just try to like stay there. You don’t have to do anything crazy, especially at a U.S. Open. All those things came true.”

Before the short weather disruption, Spaun was lagging behind Sam Burns & Co. Burns had scored a couple of bogeys by the 8th hole, but still had a considerable lead against the field. That’s when it started pouring at Oakmont, and the play was delayed. On his return, Burns added 6 strokes to his -2 to drop down to +4 and drop out of contention. Adam Scott also blundered the second half of the round, ending with 5-over par. That gave J.J. Spaun the opening to push for the win, and so he did.

While his roller coaster of a round on the course was there for everyone to see, things didn’t come as easily for J.J. Spaun as he had some personal issues the night before.

J.J. Spaun prioritized fatherhood before golf

Winning the big one on Father’s Day and having both his daughters, Emerson Lili & Violet Windsor, on course must have been a very special moment. But the 34-year-old had to endure a stressful night even before he got to the Pennsylvanian course. Spaun confessed, “Today I was running to CVS in downtown because my daughter had a stomach bug and was vomiting all night long. I was just like, okay, my wife was up at 3:00 a.m., and she’s like, Violet is vomiting all over. She can’t keep anything down. It was kind of a rough start to the morning.”

Despite the biggest challenge of his career in the next few hours, J.J. Spaun didn’t back down from his responsibilities towards his daughters. After overcoming the stressful time at their temporary residence, he was back on the course and turned things around to win the 2025 U.S. Open. That’s what prompted one of the journalists to ask, “I see you carrying your daughter up the steps after making that putt. Are you the luckiest guy in the world after what happened these last four days?”

Speaking about his luck, Spaun responded, “100 percent, at least in my mind. Just to finish it off like that is just a dream. You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger chip, you see Nick Taylor’s putt, you see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that at this championship, I’ll never forget this moment for the rest of my life.” Reminiscing about Nick Taylor’s iconic 72-foot putt to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open and Tiger Woods’s 2005 Masters Tournament chip seemed appropriate at the moment. To have his own iconic moment that can be listed in the history of great putts is just the cherry on top for him.

J.J. Spaun has certainly won in his career, with a 65-foot putt for the 2025 U.S. Open and in his life, achieving the feat after making sure his daughter is healthy and ready to celebrate his win on Father’s Day. How can you even get that lucky?