By Kyle Feldscher, CNN
Oakmont, Pennsylvania (CNN) — As he stood on the ninth tee box in the pouring rain, it looked for all the world like J.J. Spaun had just played his way out of contention for the 125th US Open championship.
A few hours later, he outlasted a crowded top of the leaderboard, the brutal course at Oakmont Country Club and Mother Nature herself to win the 125th US Open.
Having carded five bogeys in the first six holes, Spaun appeared to be in total collapse as Sunday got underway. Playing in the penultimate group, Spaun looked to have lost all the magic he had on Thursday when he shot a 4-under 66 without a bogey, saying at the time that he was playing the best golf of his life.
Then the deluge began – a drenching rain that caused play to be stopped for more than an hour-and-a-half as the players and fans alike fled the grounds. When play resumed, Spaun was completely renewed.
He began with three pars and then birdied the 12th and 14th, the latter birdie giving him a one-stroke lead. He bogeyed the 15th, creating a remarkable five-way tie for the championship with just holes to play.
It was a moment of magic on the 17th that put him ahead for good though – a 308-yard drive onto the green that settled less than 20 feet from the cup and allowed him to two putt for birdie.
As he made his way down the 18th hole, needing a par to ensure that he would enter the clubhouse one stroke ahead of Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, the rain once again went into overdrive. Spaun needed to two-putt from 64 feet to win the championship.
No need. He drained it.
In a torrential downpour, Spaun rolled his ball down the slope of the 18th green, watched it break steadily toward the hole. It kept going, 64 feet and 5 inches, until it gently dropped into the cup.
Spaun threw his putter into the air and pumped his fist before embracing his caddie, the crowd around the green in disbelief at what they’d just seen.
It took until the very end of the tournament but finally, exquisitely, one of these golfers managed to conquer Oakmont.
Rain interrupts the final round
The tradition of the US Open finishing on Father’s Day Sunday looked to be in jeopardy after play was suspended due to dangerous weather.
The final pairing of Sam Burns and Adam Scott were about to tee off on the 301-yard, par-3 eighth hole just after 4 p.m. ET when the horn blew, indicating that play was being suspended.
Heavy rain had just begun to fall on Oakmont, as a line of imposing clouds changed direction and headed over the course. The weather sent thousands of people scrambling for shelter and those without umbrellas or rain jackets were left drenched as they tried to find dry spots. The fans following Scott and Burns were in the most trouble as they were a long walk away from either entrance to the grounds where concessions, merchandise and other covered areas are located.
It was a disappointing moment as Burns and Scott were locked in a thrilling back-and-forth contest in the final pairing.
The opening holes of the final round were a challenge for the leaders as Scott began with a bogey on the first and then Burns followed suit with one of his own on the second. Scott then bogeyed the difficult third before bouncing back with a birdie on the fourth.
A hole later, Burns faltered again with his second bogey of the round and Scott grabbed a share of the lead for a short period when he buried his par putt. The 44-year-old Scott was the sentimental favorite for much of the gallery as the Australian is looking for his second major win, more than a decade after his 2013 Masters win.
Scott walked the fairways as assuredly as ever, confident in his game after firing a 3-under par 67 on Saturday to seal his place in the final group – just the third time he had ever been in the final pairing at a major. He showed his first moment of frustration as he left a birdie putt well short on the par-3 sixth hole. His par putt missed as well and he fell out of the lead again when Burns dropped his par putt.
The skies had been threatening rain for much of Scott and Burns’ round, and when they walked to the tee box on No. 7, the skies began to leak. First, it was a brief spurt of big, heavy raindrops that petered out after a few minutes. Both Scott and Burns made tidy pars, Scott missing a birdie putt by inches.
When they got to the tee on No. 8, the rain really began to fall. Burns at one point addressed his ball, getting in position to hit his driver on the 301-yard par 3, but then backed off. A few moments later, the horn sounded, and the national championship screeched to a halt.
As the restart neared, crews were all over the course to push standing water off the fairways and attempt to keep the bunkers from flooding. The players returned to the driving range to warmup again just after 5 p.m. ET, hoping to finish up this most difficult of tournaments in time.
Oakmont shows its teeth when play resumes
When play resumed, the US Open roller coaster got into full gear for the final group. Scott bogeyed the eighth to give Burns a two-stroke lead. On the ninth, both Burns and Scott sent their drives into catastrophic areas – Burns deep into the fescue on the left side of the hole, Scott ending up on the muddy pedestrian walkway area on the right. Scott would manage to save par but Burns would not, dropping a stroke as his lead thinned.
The fabled course at Oakmont had been playing tough all week, much to the chagrin of the world’s best. Sunday’s conditions following the delay wreaked havoc on the field as the greens – lightning quick all week – were suddenly soft and slow after being drenched and the rough got even stickier, latching onto clubheads like the tentacles of an octopus.
The rain began to pelt down again just after 6 p.m. ET as the conditions again turned dour. Still, play went on as the golfers donned their rain gear once more to power through another downpour.
As players like Carlos Ortiz and Tyrrell Hatton threatened the top group with Sunday charges, Burns extended his lead to two strokes with a birdie on the 10th, sinking a 10-footer through the deluge.
On 11, the course hit the leaders with a vengeance. Burns and Scott hit drives into decent positions, but the soaked course left them unable to control their approach shots. Scott sent his into the fescue that he could not escape, advancing the ball by just a few feet. He would end up with a bogey on a 14-foot, knee-shaking putt.
Burns, meanwhile, fared even worse. His approach sidled up to a greenside bunker and he sent his next shot sailing over the green. He chipped back onto green, but Oakmont’s wickedly undulating putting surfaces punish even the slightest miss – the ball rolled 26 feet past the hole into the fringe.
He’d eventually make double bogey and his lead shrank to one stroke, and suddenly it was no longer a battle between Scott and Burns as three other players pounced on the opportunity.
A war of attrition
Mexican Carlos Ortiz matched Scott’s 3-under 67 on Saturday to get himself into solid position. The tournament at Oakmont was only Ortiz’s 10th major and just the third time he had ever made the cut at one. A birdie on 11 combined with Scott’s bogey moved him into a tie for second.
On the 13th hole, he and Scott would be joined in second place by Tyrell Hatton as the Englishman sunk a birdie putt to move a stroke back of Burns. And then on the 12th hole, Spaun – who started the day tied for second place and proceeded to shoot five bogeys on the front nine – sank a 40-foot putt to also move within a shot of Burns.
It was golf carnage, pure and simple. Playing in a driving rain, each man was facing off against the punishing course, their talented peers and the elements as the rain and wind turned Oakmont into a US Open torture chamber.
As the pressure from the field grew, Burns showed signs of frustration. An approach shot on 12 left him befuddled, holding out his hands in disbelief at the ball sank into the rough short of the green. His par putt on that hole rimmed out and, incredibly, there was a five-way tie for first at the US Open on the back nine as Burns, Scott, Ortiz, Spaun and Hatton all sat at 1-over for the tournament.
The first player to break the tie was Spaun, the man who appeared to have collapsed and played himself out of contention with a catastrophic front nine. A birdie on 14 moved him back to even par for the tournament after draining a majestic 22-foot putt for his second birdie in three holes to take the outright lead.
Scott’s bogey on 14 dropped him two shots back, and Burns’ missed a birdie putt after a remarkable approach shot from 122 yards out put him within seven feet.
Playing a few groups ahead of the leaders, Robert MacIntyre joined the group tied for second place with a birdie on 17, the Scotsman throwing himself into contention on his penultimate hole.
Spaun survives Oakmont to take the trophy
Spaun’s time alone atop the leaderboard ended when he missed a par putt on the 15th, bogeying for the first time since No. 6. That putt created another logjam on top of the leaderboard with Burns, Hatton and MacIntyre all joining Spaun at 1-over for the tournament. Scott remained a stroke back of the leaders as Ortiz fell off the pace with a double bogey on 15.
Burns showed his frustration with the soaked conditions at the course on 15 when he missed the green with an approach shot, slamming the club into the soaked grass as the ball settled near a greenside bunker. He failed to get the ball on the green with his chip, popping the ball up only a few feet as it settled back into Oakmont’s dense rough. He would go on to card a double bogey on the hole, his second since play restarted after the break.
MacIntyre would go on to par the 18th hole to enter the clubhouse at 1-over for the tournament, tied atop the leaderboard. On a day when almost every other player was beaten and broken by Oakmont, the Scot carded a 2-under par 68 – second only to Jon Rahm’s 67 as the round of the day.
The 17th hole proved to be Hatton’s undoing as the Englishman drove the ball into the rough on the downslope of a greenside bunker. His attempt to chip onto the green only cleared the bunker and settled into more rough on the other side of the trap. His next shot flew over the green and he eventually finished up with a bogey that dropped him a shot behind MacIntyre and Spaun.
The 16th ended Burns and Scott’s push for the championship as Scott carded his first double bogey of the round and Burns bogeyed. The delay had ultimately derailed their push for the title – Burns had three bogeys and two double bogeys after the restart, and Scott had four bogeys and a double.
It was going to take a moment of brilliance to win the tournament and Spaun – the golfer who benefitted the most from the pause in play – was the man to find it. His incredible drive on 17 that changed the tournament for good. The 314-yard 17th was a tempting target all week as it was drivable for most of the field. Sometimes that risk didn’t pay off – as Hatton found out one group earlier – but for Spaun it was a brilliant chance.
His 309-yard drive looked like it was about to go in as it rolled past the hole, eventually settling down as an 18-foot eagle putt. He attempt trickled just past the hole, settling for a birdie that gave him a one-stroke lead as he walked to the 18th tee.
Spaun drove into the fairway on 18 and hit a 190-yard approach shot onto the green, leaving himself some daunting work to do as the rain fell down. Instead, he drained the putt.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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