“It just felt like, as bad as things were going, I still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life,” said J.J. Spaun following his win at the 2025 U.S. Open. Aside from that, as Spaun admits, his commitment to not “do anything dumb trying to protect a three-putt” landed him his first major win. And a place among the names such as Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Jon Rahm, and Tom Watson as the fifth U.S. Open champion to finish birdie-birdie on the final two holes. But, if you ask Spaun, he’d say he finds other moments more “interesting.”

Recently, J.J. Spaun sat down for an interview on Golf’s Subpar and shared something rather interesting following his U.S. Open win. Spaun kicked off the conversation by answering the question, “What’s been the like, biggest pinch-me moment? Like, have you heard from someone?” He replied, “I was just still kind of riding the high and the adrenaline, but just getting like tons of letters and mail. Like, I got a signed skateboard from Tony Hawk. Yeah, that’s, that was like I was not expecting that at all.” 

Tony Hawk, aka “Birdman,” is a pioneer in modern vertical skateboarding, famously landing the first-ever documented “900” in 1999. This daring trick involves a 2.5-revolution (900-degree) spin performed on a skateboard ramp. So, pretty much a big thing. But it’s the same for the next mention as well. Spaun continues, “And, you know, Jack Nicklaus wrote me a letter, and it’s just really cool to kind of get all that stuff.” And, as per Spaun, “And you know, those are the interesting moments so far for me.” 

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Spaun has interacted with Jack Nicklaus. At the 2025 Memorial Tournament, they interacted after Nicklaus “stopped me.” Spaun said of the encounter, “I said: Yeah, it would have been nice to win. He’s like: You keep knocking on that door, you’re going to knock one down. Literally, the next week that happened [U.S. Open].” And, as per Spaun, Nicklaus “remembered that” and sent him “a nice note, which was really cool.” 

But Jack Nicklaus’s habit of sending letters to major winners is very old. In fact, it’s so old that he cannot even remember it! Ahead of the 2025 Memorial Tournament, Nicklaus confessed, “I sit down and did a handwritten note to every one of them [major winners], ever since I can remember…I don’t think I missed anybody for 30 years anyway.” And that also included the first two major champions of the season: Rory McIlroy (Masters) and Scottie Scheffler (PGA Championship).

So, undoubtedly, J.J. Spaun is now a part of one unique Jack Nicklaus tradition! However, his U.S. Open win has brought him nothing but positives, and he’s likely enjoying the constant praise that follows. At least, Spaun says so!

J.J. Spaun says he will ‘never get sick’ of being the centre of attention

The 2025 U.S. Open winner, J.J. Spaun, will make his second Genesis Scottish Open appearance after missing the event in 2023. At the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, Spaun finished T59. And although the competition at the event is likely going to be tough for everyone, including Spaun, he is thinking of nothing but the glorious days following his first major win.

Talking about the same during the Wednesday press conference ahead of the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, the 34-year-old shared something interesting. “Two seconds ago before I walked in the tent,” he responded with a smile when asked about the last time someone congratulated him on his title win in Pennsylvania.

But he followed it with more candid replies and said, “Literally in passing. It’s crazy. But it doesn’t get old. Everyone wants to come up to you, which is cool, but man, I mean, how does Scottie [Scheffler] do it? I guess people just get sick and tired of telling him congrats, they just don’t tell him after a while (laughing). It’s awesome. I’ll never get sick of it.”

J.J. Spaun secured his victory after narrowly losing to Rory McIlroy in a playoff for The Players Championship at Sawgrass in March. A year ago, he played in the ISCO Championship, another event co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, but now he ranks among eight of the top ten players in the world competing in East Lothian this week. So, let’s hope J.J. Spaun will have more such stories and thoughts to share following the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open!