J.J. Spaun is still adjusting to his admission into a new world after winning the U.S. Open at Oakmont last month.
Spaun, 34, described himself as going from “a mid-tier player fighting for his card” to a “major winner,” and the way his fellow pros and fans have been treating him has made an impression.
“It’s been a complete 180. I’ve been out here for eight, nine years now, and you see the same guys, but you kind of notice a little bit of change in tone, or I guess more of like respect,” Spaun said on Wednesday during a press conference ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open. “Especially from the top guys. They engage a little bit more with you. Not that they are different with other players, but you kind of feel you’re at a different level now, winning a major.”
Among those players who have congratulated Spaun on his career-defining moment? None other than Jack Nicklaus, who wrote him a letter. Funny enough, Spaun had chatted with the Golden Bear at the Memorial, the last tournament Spaun had played before being the only player in the 156-man field to break par at the U.S. Open. Nicklaus, who is the tournament host at Muirfield Village, stopped Spaun and let him know that his good play hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“I never really engaged with him before that,” Spaun said, “and he just said I was playing really well. 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,’ and, literally, the next week that happened. He remembered that and sent me a nice note, which was really cool.”
Spaun played the following week at the Travelers Championship after his two-shot victory over Robert MacIntyre. After a sluggish start, Spaun closed with 63 to finish T-14. Not that he’s complaining but hardly a moment goes by without another person congratulating Spaun, who had only one previous victory since joining the Tour in 2014, on becoming a major winner.
“Everyone wants to come up to you, which is cool, but man, I mean, how does Scottie do it?” he said, referencing world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who has reeled in three majors and 16 titles since February 2023. “I guess people just get sick and tired of telling him congrats, they just don’t tell him after a while.”
Spaun continued: “It feels good to kind of earn that respect from my peers, and obviously the greatest players that are out here kind of acknowledging me and making me feel like I belong, which is huge for confidence and huge for self-belief.
“It’s still a pinch-me moment that it’s something that I did do. It’s very cool, and I’m completely honored to kind of, yeah, earn the respect from the other players and the fans … It’s awesome. I’ll never get sick of it.”
Spaun also has been elevated to one of the featured groupings for the first two rounds and will play alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Scotland’s own Connor Syme, at the Genesis Scottish Open. It will be held at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick for the seventh consecutive year. It’s a co-sanctioned PGA Tour and DP World Tour event for the fourth year in a row.