The future of JJ Spaun, the favorites to open and how Ryder Cup are teams that prepare – Blogging Sole

Oakmont, Pennsylvania – The United States Open, the third major championship of the season, produced the most unlikely champion of JJ SPAUNWho won fascinating with consecutive birdies on the last two holes at Oakmont Country Club on Sunday.

Spaun was the only golfer to finish under peer at 1-he of 279, and he was the only survivor one day when the rain and the wind made Oakmont even more treacherous.

The last major championship of the season, the open championship of the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, from July 17 to 20, is in a month.

Who will be the open -air favorites? Will Spaun’s unlikely victory propel him to more victories? And the Ryder Cup?

What do you expect from JJ SPAUN the rest of the season?

Mark Schlabach: Last season, Spaun missed the cup in 10 of its first 15 departures on the PGA Tour and was ranked 169th in the world. He feared that he will lose his tour card.

“Last year in June, I looked like I was going to lose my job, and that’s when I had this moment when” if that’s how I go out, I could also swing, “said Spaun.

Spaun turned things up at the end of the summer, and he played some of the best golf courses in his career this year. He equaled the second to Cognizant Classic in the beaches of Palm in February and Lost against Rory McILroy in a Monday qualifying series at the players’ championship. He had been about to add a second career victory on tour, and he finally did it in one of the most difficult golf courses in the world.

“I think it’s just perseverance,” said Spaun. “I have always fought on everything it could be to get to where I had to be and get to what I wanted. I have already done that. There is a bit like a little pattern, so I hope I will not do this model anymore.”

Spaun’s competitors were not so surprised that it won the United States Open, which says something. Although Spaun may not be so familiar with a name for people who do not follow golf course, he is considered one of the best ball fasteners in the world. His putter was hot over four days in Oakmont, which is one of the biggest reasons he won.

Paolo Uggetti: While at first glance, it may seem that Spaun was a winner of US Open, this testifies to his evolution as a player he was able to survive each person on the field this week.

As his new coach Josh Gregory detailed him after the final round, Spaun could have been happy to be an intermediary player of PGA Tour – he had $ 17 million in career income before this week, after all – but instead, he wanted, said Gregory, to be Elite.

“It would be very easy to settle down and say what I do work,” said Gregory. “On his credit, he said” I need to be better “.”

For Spaun, who has always been an elite ball striker, it meant working on his put and chipping, which Gregory said he had helped. This week was proof of the work he did, and that will put him well for the rest of the year. Now, whenever there is a course that prioritizes the iron game, Spaun also seems to be able to count on the conversion once it has found green.

Although the dispute to the last major of the year can be eccentric, because the Spaun has never played outdoors, I expect Spaun to be in the mixture during several PGA Tour events, including the next Tour championship.

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Reflections on the Ryder Cup after the first three majors of the year?

Schlabach: US Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley Was greeted by cheers of “USA!” USA!” When he reached the 18th green at Oakmont Country Club on Sunday, and it is a battle cry that he will often hear in the coming months.

Spaun almost obtained its place Ryder Cup by winning the US Open. He is third in points, only dragging the world n ° 1 Scottie Scheffler and double major winner Xander Schauffele. BRYSON DECHAMBEAU is fourth, followed by Justin Thomas And Collin Morikawa. They are probably locks to make the team.

In addition to the victory of Spaun, Russell Henley And Ben Griffin were probably the biggest movements in Oakmont. They equaled the 10th to 5, and they are now seventh and eighth at Ryder Cup Points, respectively.

The six best players in the points ranking after the BMW championship on August 17 will automatically do the team; Bradley will also make choices of six captains.

Uggetti: I am sure that Captain Luke Donald liked to see Viktor Hovland Again, approach the security of its first major title as well as Tyrrell Hatton And even Jon Rahmwhich has almost destroyed in the running, behaving well. They have all finished in the top 10 and will all be in Bethpage even if Rahm and Hovland are currently outside the Top 6 in the European ranking at the moment.

Someone in the top 6 is Robert Macintyrewhose Sunday race in second place helped him mark his best finish in a major and to lower his name to the fourth row in the Ryder Cup classification.

Macintyre was considered the last man two years ago in Rome, but he held his 2-0-1 more than held. On tour this season, Macintyre has four top-10, and this kind of result during a course like Oakmont will certainly strengthen his case and put him in excellent position to return to the team in September.

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Too early thoughts on the open championship?

Schlabach: Scheffler fought his swing and putter for 72 holes in Oakmont, but he managed to equalize for seventh at 4 for another top-10 to a major. Even unless its best, Scheffler is always better than most, and I think that the list of golfers who can face the Royal Portrush begins with the major triple winner.

“My main point to remember is that I fought as hard as this week,” said Scheffler. “I was really mentally proud of how I was in four days. I did a lot of things that could really break a week, and I never really had this good break that propels you.

Shane Lowry won Jug Claret the last time that open was played in Northern Ireland in 2019, and I think it will be among the favorites again. Lowry fought powerfully during his second consecutive adult and missed the cup after posting 79-78.

Rory McILroy I will seek a redemption after missing the cup at Royal Portrush five years ago. He always fought his driver a little in Oakmont, but returned home with a momentum after publishing a 3-mine of 67 Sunday. I think he will have his mind and will swing in the right place before arriving in Northern Ireland.

“Listen, if I can’t motivate myself to get up for an open house championship, then I don’t know what can motivate me,” said Mcilroy. “Yes, as I said, I just need to put myself in the right state of mind. I have probably not been there in recent weeks.

“But as I said, get home and have a few weeks off before that, we hope I feel refreshed and rejuvenated, will do me again in the right place.”

Uggetti: And the reigning champion by doing another race? With everyone’s eyes on the ranking on Sunday, Xander Schauffele Quietly affect a tour of the sub-values ​​to finish in the top 12 in Oakmont.

Slowly but surely, the Schauffele match resumed the form of the major championship after missing some time at the start of the season with a rib injury. During its last seven departures, Schauffele has five top-15s.

“I have never been injured before. So I think it was a kind of new one,” said Schauffele this week. “I felt like I was playing at a fairly high level. Then I injured myself. My expectations of what I knew I could do where I was very different, and accept that it was difficult. I think it was sort of the biggest waking up for me to come back. ”

It is fair to say that Schauffele is almost all the way back and just in time for the second major championship he won last season. Last year, the 31 -year -old man obtained the jug of Blaret in Too with a wonderful Sunday performance which proved that he could excel, not only on the PGA Tour configurations, but also on the links with the conditions of links. Portrush will bring these two things on stage in a month, and Schauffele will have the advantage of knowing that he has won in this type of environment before.

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Besides Spaun, who was the biggest Oakmont winners?

Schlabach: Viktor HovlandThe swing was a mess – or at least he believed it – for a large part of the season, but it managed to enter the mixture and finished third with 2 above and third place. The interior of Hovland for perfection could prevent him from joining Scheffler, Schauffele and others as the best golfers in the world, but there is little debate that he is one of the most talented. Everything is there to win some majors, at least.

“I continue to progress in the right direction and to have a chance to win a major championship without my best things and not to feel very comfortable, it’s super cool,” said Hovland. “So I’m going to take a lot of positive points with me this week.”

Although Adam Scott would have liked a better finish than the 9th against 79 of Sunday, he was there in the mixture until the conditions were bad the nine seconds. I thought that Scott’s chances of challenging in the majors have been completed since the age of 44. But it was the first time he has been doing it for a long time, and he could still have something in the tank to start again.

Uggetti: I will come back to Macintyre here. The man of Oban looked comfortable in chaotic conditions on Sunday and played the nine backs in Oakmont in a 2-sous of Bogey without Boot to take the advance of the clubhouse which almost obtained it in the playoffs with Spaun.

“I’m just a guy who believes,” said Macintyre. “Today, it was one day that I said to myself:” Why not? ” Why not be me today? »»

Throughout the week, the Scotsman turned off the lights, ranking fourth in lines was carried out: by putting and, despite a round of 74 Friday, was kept in the tournament he predicted would have an equal winner.

Macintyre was almost right.

Once he finished with his tour and he could only look at Spaun drained the 64 -foot stew to get a finishing score of 1 sous and the victory, the cameras caught Macintyre in the rating room giving Spaun a generous blow and a serious “wow”. It was a human moment that sparked a lot of praise and crowned a week, Macintyre will not soon forget.

“It’s great,” said Macintyre about the connection. “This is what I dreamed of when I was a child, sitting at home looking at all the majors. Yeah, it’s incredible. “