OAKMONT, Pa. — Here comes J.J. Spaun, shuffling down metal stairs, U.S. Open trophy in one hand and surrounded by boom mics and cameras. It’s gone dark at Oakmont Country Club, save for the flood lights illuminating the parking lot and the set of Golf Channel’s “Live From”, where Spaun is just now exiting.
He’s tired, but he’s running on adrenaline. It’s been a long day. He was up at 3 a.m., the man tied for third at the U.S. Open, running to CVS to get his daughter medicine. Then there was a rain delay thrown in the middle of 18 grueling holes in the world’s hardest tournament on one of its hardest courses in even harder conditions. He had to deal with a dreadful start to his round, bad breaks and all those major championship nerves. Then he decided the heck with all that, he was going to win the U.S. Open anyway. Now he’s been moving non-stop for the last two-plus hours. A trophy engraving is up next, one of the greatest obligations for the champion of one of golf’s greatest events.
Finally, he asks the question he’s been wondering for a while now.
INSIDE OAKMONT’S CLUBHOUSE, THEY ARE VACUUMING. This place has been bustling for the past week — with golfers, caddies, members and VIP guests — but now it’s eerily quiet and the vacuums hum along from a couple of rooms away.
It’s 10 p.m., and J.J. Spaun sits in a chair behind two massive oak doors with white trim. He’s going through the gauntlet of interviews with USGA rights-holders — first TSN, then CNN, followed by ESPN and SiriusXM. A USGA staffer watches the live ESPN hit from their phone, 15 feet away.
Since Spaun made his U.S. Open-winning putt a few minutes after 8 p.m. — a 64-footer for birdie that gave him a two-shot victory over Robert MacInytre — it’s been a tiring, chaotic blast. The good type of busy.
First came the 18th-green trophy presentation, followed by NBC and rights-holder interviews on the green. He then posed for photos before hopping into a golf cart and conducting a press conference with additional media. Thirty minutes later he was back in the cart, trophy in tow, returning to the 18th green. A dozen photographers were waiting for him, killing time by snapping shots of a USGA staffer to get the lighting just right.
More photos followed — with the USGA, with Oakmont members, with his family (his wife, Melody, and their two daughters), his agent, caddie, coaches and friends. Some security guards, nearing the end of their week-long shift, gathered on the green for front-row seats.
