Spaun Emerges From ‘Rabbit Hole’ To Post Lowest Score In Just His Ninth Major

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American JJ Spaun leads the 2025 US Open Championship heading into the second round at Oakmont.

For the 34-year-old Arizona-based Spaun his round of a four-under 66 was the best in his 25 rounds playing in his ninth appearance in a major since making his debut at the game’s highest level at the 2018 PGA Championship.

And Spaun spoke of his pre-US Open work on his game back home that included going “down a rabbit hole for a few days back home”.

“I’m really picky with how I swing the club. I felt like I was a little off after Memorial. I tried tweaking some things at home, and I kind of went down the rabbit hole a few days at home and just kind of threw it out the window a few days before coming here”, he said.

“I’m like, I don’t want to play the U.S. Open thinking about too much in my swing.

“I did a lot of productive preparation. I didn’t really try to mess with my swing. We just tried to work on getting a good feel for the shot pattern that I’m trying to hit, and then we did a lot of short game. I started working with Josh Gregory this week on short game, and he helped me kind of learn how to read the lies in this kind of rough and change my technique a little bit.

“It was funny, my caddie, after I chipped in on the first hole, he goes, nice chip, Josh, just because that’s the instructor’s name.

“I didn’t really know — I didn’t really feel like I’m going to show a bogey-free round 4-under. I didn’t really know what to expect especially since I’ve never played here. But yeah, maybe sometimes not having expectations is the best thing, so I’ll take it”.

Spaun heads out on day two later day at 12.52pm local Pennsylvania time.

First-Round Notes – Thursday, June 12, 2025

Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 87. Winds SW at 4-8 mph.

First-Round Leaderboard

Pos. Player R1
1 J.J. Spaun 66 (-4)
2 Thriston Lawrence 67 (-3)
T3 Si Woo Kim 68 (-2)
T3 Brooks Koepka 68 (-2)
T3 Sungjae Im 68 (-2)

 J.J. Spaun (1st/-4)

  • Cards his low 18-hole score in a major; previous low: 67 (2018 PGA Championship/R4); previous low in a U.S. Open: 75 (2021/Torrey Pines/R2)
  • His first career bogey-free round in a major; was the lone player in the field without a bogey (or worse)
  • Seventh time leading/co-leading after the first round on TOUR (0-for-6); second time this season (previous instance: T1 after the first round of the 2025 PLAYERS Championship/finished P2)
  • His first lead/co-lead after any round in a major; previous best position: T16 (2022 Masters Tournament/R2)/finished T23
  • Matches the low first-round score in a U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club (previous instance: 66/Andrew Landry/2016/R1)
  • 34-year-old seeks his second win on TOUR in his 236th start (2022 Valero Texas Open)
  • Four top-10 finishes in 16 starts in 2025 (T3/Sony Open in Hawaii; T2/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches; P2/THE PLAYERS Championship; T6/Charles Schwab Challenge)
  • In the first two majors of the 2025 season, he finished 50th (Masters Tournament) and T37 (PGA Championship)
  • Second appearance in the U.S. Open; MC in 2021 at Torrey Pines (South) after shooting 77-75

Thriston Lawrence (2nd/-3)

  • His best 18-hole position on TOUR; previous best: T13 (2022 Open Championship)/finished T42
  • 28-year-old from South Africa seeks his first win on TOUR in his 27th start; best finish: 4th (2024 Open Championship)
  • Has made two cuts in 11 starts this season on TOUR (T59/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld; T54/Puerto Rico Open)
  • Second appearance in the U.S. Open; MC in 2023 at The Los Angeles Country Club (North) after shooting 70-73

 Additional Notes

  • South Korea’s Sungjae Im (T3) and Si Woo Kim (T3) each open with 2-under 68; each look to become the first Korean player since Y.E. Yang (2009 PGA Championship) to win a major
  • Two-time U.S. Open champion (2017, 2018) Brooks Koepka (T3) eagles No. 4 on his way to 2-under 68; looks to become the seventh player to win three U.S. Open titles (Jack Nicklaus/4; Ben Hogan/4; Bobby Jones/4; Willie Anderson/4; Tiger Woods/3; Hale Irwin/3)
  • Seeking his third win in seven starts, Ben Griffin (T6) opens with 1-under 69; won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (with partner Andrew Novak) and Charles Schwab Challenge; finished 2nd in his most recent start (the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday)
  • Making his 96th consecutive major appearance (the longest active streak), Adam Scott (T11) posts even-par 70
  • World No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler (T49) shoots 3-over 73; seeks his fourth win in five starts (THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson; PGA Championship; the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday)
  • Patrick Reed (T49/+3) makes an albatross-2 on the par-5 fourth hole; fourth albatross in U.S. Open history (T.C. Chen/1985; Shaun Micheel/2010; Nick Watney/2012); second albatross of the 2025 season on TOUR (Taylor Pendrith/The Sentry/R4/Hole No. 5)
  • 2011 U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy (T62) cards 4-over 74; plays his first nine (Nos. 10-18) in 2-under before playing his second nine (Nos. 1-9) in 6-over; finished 2nd in the last two U.S. Opens (2023/The Los Angeles Country Club; 2024/Pinehurst No. 2); became the sixth player in history to complete the Career Grand Slam with his win at the 2025 Masters Tournament (Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods)


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