Despite coming off a missed cut at the Memorial Tournament, Spaun opened the U.S. Open with a four-under 66 at Oakmont Country Club on Thursday, putting him atop the leaderboard. It remains to be seen if Spaun will hold the lead, as the first round is still far from over, but nonetheless, his 66 will have him high on the leaderboard heading into Friday’s second round. Spaun carried pre-tournament odds to win the U.S. Open of +12000 on DraftKings Sportsbook and only 0.03% of the handle of outright bets were placed on Spaun.
In the firm and fast conditions of the very challenging Oakmont Country Club, Spaun impressively didn’t record one single bogey Thursday. The 34-year-old racked up four birdies and all four of them came on his back nine. For the round, Spaun gained strokes in every major category, including a field-best 3.9 strokes with his putter.
Given Oakmont presents some of the fastest and most difficult greens in the world, Spaun maintaining this type of form as a putter is extremely unlikely. The veteran ranks 84th in SGP this season and his flat stick should come back down to Earth in the second round. Ranking sixth in SG APP this season, Spaun’s calling card is his irons, and he should continue to stick many greens. But does he have the major pedigree and mental toughness to win at Oakmont? Unfortunately, Spaun’s resume would suggest otherwise.
Before this week, the only other time Spaun had competed at the U.S. Open was at Torrey Pines in 2021 and that week, he missed the cut at 10-over, which was six shots off the cut line. In eight starts at the major level, the San Diego State University product has made five cuts and he has never finished higher than T23. Spaun only has one win on his resume and that came at the Valero Texas Open in 2022, which featured a weak field of players.
Plus, at THE PLAYERS Championship in March, which is unofficially regarded as the fifth major of the season, given it’s world-class field and huge purse, Spaun showed that he isn’t ready to close out a high-level event. After a terrific week at TPC Sawgrass, Spaun went to a three-hole playoff with Rory McIlroy. After Spaun posted a par on the first hole, which was a scoreable par five that McIlroy birdied, Spaun crumbled on the second hole of the playoff, putting his tee shot in the water at the famous island green par three No. 17. The bright lights of THE PLAYERS Championship and facing an all-time great in McIlroy clearly affected Spaun.
Yes, this is three months ago, and Spaun is in the midst of the best season of his career, sitting at a career-best No. 25 in the World Golf Rankings, but Spaun isn’t ready to win the first major of his career, especially this week at Oakmont, which is viewed as the hardest golf course in the world by many. Spaun currently carries the second-best odds to win the U.S. Open at +1100 on DraftKings Sportsbook, but investing him to win this major simply isn’t a wise choice.
