2025 U.S. Open: Champions
Winners from Oakmont's tenth U.S. Open.
Plenty of winners from a wet week in Pennsylvania…
J.J. Spaun. The U.S. Open produces its share of journeyman winners and Spaun could be the latest. Or, he might vault to unforeseen places after closing in 32, driving the 17th green, and making a putt they’ll talk about as long as people play the game. The opening 40 appeared to be less about nerves and a morning run to pick up some Pepto for his daughter. “Today I was running to CVS in downtown because my daughter had a stomach bug and was vomiting all night long,” he said when asked about a final round start featuring five bogeys in six holes. “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. I'm not blaming that on my start, but it kind of fit the mold of what was going on, the chaos.” Either way, it’s hard to look at the numbers and understand how he won. But that’s the beauty of this Open. Everyone’s numbers stunk. (But I’m still processing how he was second in Strokes Gained putting, going 26-33-32-32 on the greens, but guess that 401’6” goes a long way in the algo! Anyway, a great effort by Spaun, a stellar reaction to the final putt, and class interview responses salvaged Sunday’s weather-induced trainwreck. It’s always gratifying to watch someone to win the U.S. Open instead of falling into the trophy after following someone elses meltdown.
Robert MacIntyre. Tommy Armour almost had company as a Scottish U.S. Open champion, but the Silver Scot likely never applauded and smiled when the guy you needed to three-wack made a putt for the ages. A whopping 399 feet of putts made at Oakmont? A staggering feat and nearly closing a seven-stroke deficit Sunday in the worst of the weather was remarkable. MacIntyre joins the U.S. Open Lefty Runner-Up Club after Mickelson and Harman, while making it all but impossible for Luke Donald to pass him up should he fall from his current spot ranked fourth in Ryder Cup points. And your final round shirt even matched the weather.
Viktor Hovland. The best smile in golf isn’t quite back, but it was sure nice to see less of the chippiness, neurotic tinkering and crazed energy. This translated into a third place finish and new fans after several engaging press conferences. Time spent debating with new coach Grant Waite on the range following the round still showed signs of the 2024 Hovland and could have been costly given that energy is so essential during a major week. (Tom Watson won eight of these things almost never practicing after a round). A week of getting up-and-down 5 of 18 times for Hovland somehow translated to first in Strokes Gained Around The Green (algorithms!). So take that victory for a sometimes-beleagured short game, swallow one or two chill pills a week, and head to Portrush as one of the favorites.
Sam Burns. Rough final day 78 and even rougher rules official verdicts on those watery lies. But in handling it with class after a valiant smoke-and-mirrors effort hitting just 31 fairways and 45 greens, Burns won some new fans and set himself in good shape with the Golf Gods who tend to find ways of rewarding attitude.
Adam Scott. The persistence, hard work and calculated schedule built around majors nearly paid off with a win at 44.8 years young. Things unraveled Sunday because of the weather and chaos that claimed plenty of others. Yet the fan, locker room and media favorite still had a smile and remarkable attitude when seeing J.J. Spaun after the round. Pure class. As always.
San Diego State. Three of the last six majors have been won by Aztecs thanks to Xander Schauffele’s 2024 PGA and Open, followed now by J.J. Spaun. The U.S. Open low amateur Justin Hastings came later and will soon be bringing his Clark Gable aesthetic to the pro game.
Oakmont. The original design was filmed on nitrate and now it’s been largely restored and updated in beautiful 4K. The rough? It’s like sitting through 8 previews, an unplanned intermission and a few commercials that even the backers might say was a bit much. And do we miss the occasional majestic tall woody friend like the one off 3 tee, profiled here by The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn? Sure. If nothing else, to give the occasional sense of place. We knew going in that excessive 5.25 inch barnacles would be all over the place and due to juiced equipment forces the founder hearkening efforts to go in places that might pervert even their stern vision of the game. One-under-par won. There’s joy in Mudville today. (No one tell them that had the ninth remained a par 5 that J.J. Spaun would have finished five under and nine-under under the old par 72.) Magnificent doesn’t begin to capture the conditioning effort and in a weird way, at least until things unraveled late Sunday, the rain prevented the from getting too fast for several of the fairways slopes Stimping faster than most greens.
Michael McCormick and the grounds crew. While it might seem like a lot of hard work was negated by the weather, if it weren’t for the Loefflerlian efforts before and during the championship, the U.S. Open would have been finishing on Tuesday. Maybe.
