J.J.

Spaun

Spaun twirled a T27 last week at Quail Hollow Club but won’t try to build on that momentum in Dallas. He currently sits at 59th in the FedExCup ranks and 73rd in the OWGR. He will be in the field for next week’s PGA Championship so it’s possible this week’s weather forecast scared him out of the field, opting for PGA Championship prep instead.

Spaun opened with a 5-under 67 last year to find himself T3 after day one of the 2022 Valero Texas Open. He carded 70-69 to find himself with a share of the 54-hole lead and then delivered on Sunday. He’s missed the cut in four of his last five stroke-play events this time around, but feels much better about the state of his game. “Everything’s pretty tight and I’ve done a good job of staying in my lane and sticking to my strategies where I kind of stick to the game plan and hit fairways and hit greens. I think the weeks where I putt well are the weeks that I can really contend. So I think if the putter heats up a little bit this week, I’ll hopefully be back where I was last year at this time.” Spaun is currently 48th in the FedExCup race.

Spaun roared out of the gate to find himself 3UP thru 5 holes. Fitzpatrick fought back but Spaun picked up some momentum with a 10-foot par saver at the 10th. “And it could have easily turned right there in his favor if I missed that putt on 10. I think that was the turning point to where kind of seemed like once I did is that and birdied 11, it was just kind of like just run with this momentum.” He would add the highlight of his round a few holes later when he holed out from 107 yards for an unconventional eagle. Spaun will take on Sahith Theegala (0-1) on day two.

Spaun raced out to an early share of the lead on day one and didn’t back down as the week progressed. It was his fifth time holding a lead or co-lead after round one of a PGA TOUR event but the first time he went on to post a top-25 finish at the end of the week. It vaults him from 46th to 28th in the early FedExCup race and will surely give him some confidence as he turns his attention toward Waialae Country Club for next week’s Sony Open. This will go in the books as his seventh career top 5 on the PGA TOUR, in 166 starts.

Making his tournament debut, Spaun had no trouble figuring out the layout at Kapalua, although he did say his toes were hurting as it’s such a tough walk. His striking was sharp today as he split 12-of-15 fairways and missed just one green in regulation. He walked off the course ranked top 10 in all four sub-categories of strokes gained. This will be his fifth career first-round lead or co-lead and he hasn’t fared well after the previous fast starts (no top 25s). He’s currently tied alongside Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa.

A 90-minute fog delay this morning is the culprit here, causing them to run out of daylight. They should have no issues getting back on track, time-wise. Just before the horn sounded, San Diego State product J.J. Spaun closed out his opening lap of 6-under 66 to post in a share of third place at day’s end. The California native was striping fairways (10-of-14) but settled for 11 GIR (T102). His flat stick bailed him out with nearly three strokes gained putting. Spaun is making his seventh start at the course and looking to match or improve upon his previous best (9th at the 2020 edition).

Spaun got into the winner’s circle for the first time at the Valero Texas Open in April, a victory that served as the highlight of a regular season that saw him begin the FedEx St. Jude Championship at No. 25 in the points race. He’s in position to improve on that significantly after backing up an opening 62 with rounds of 67-68 at TPC Southwind. At 13 under he sits one shot clear of Sepp Straka and two ahead of a group that includes Cameron Smith and Will Zalatoris. This will be Spaun’s third career 54-hole lead, having converted one of his two prior chances. A T-8 finish in Detroit is Spaun’s only top-10 finish since his San Antonio breakthrough four months ago, but he’s making the most of his debut appearance at TPC Southwind.

Spaun collected his maiden win early in early April (Valero Texas Open) but arrived this week with finishes outside of the top 55 in six of his last seven starts. He flipped that script today by gaining 3.2 strokes on approach and another 3.5 strokes putting. That was orchestrated by steady driving, splitting 11-of-14 fairways. This round matches the low round of his career (8-under 62 in R3 of the 2017 RSM Classic). If the early co-lead stands then it’ll be his fourth time posting a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR. He’s finished T34, T27, and T47 after those fast starts which is not the best record of backing up a low opening lap. We’ll see if he can change that when he takes on TPC Southwind on Friday afternoon.

This was the Los Angeles native’s fourth Rocket, fourth cash and second top 25 (T13/2019). He improves to 17-for-26 on the season with three top 10s, first since his maiden TOUR win at the Valero nine starts ago, and is projected to move seven spots from 32nd to 25th in the FedExCup standings. After today’s eight-birdie one-bogey showing alongside fellow California native Kurt Kitayama (69) (link below): “Yeah, it was a fun day literally. Played with Kurt. Kurt’s my good buddy out here, so we hang out a lot off the course. We talked about going to birdie-ville or birdie-town...It was a very good mood all day and we had fun.” For the week, the 31-year-old posted laps of 69-71-66-65 (T45 at halftime), tallied one eagle and 23 birdies against eight bogeys, and currently ranks 33rd SG: Tee-to-Green (3.143) and 2nd SG: Putting (6.465), highlighted by a 3.383 SGP on Sunday.

The 31-year-old, a breakthrough winner (in his 147th career event) at the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio five starts ago, is a mid-tourney WD for a fifth time in 152 events. It’s his first since the 2019 PLAYERS (undisclosed reason) after a 4-over 76/R1, and his second in this event in three appearances, joining his tourney debut in 2017, where he WD after a 1-over 71/R1 (no reason provided). This week, the SDSU alum opened with an 8-over 78 (2 birdies, 6 bogeys, 2 doubles) and beginning on 10 tee today, was 3-over thru eight holes and had hit four shots to the par-4 18th, including his second into the water, when he called it a day.