Rain turns Oakmont into 'Soak-mont' for final round of U.S. Open, forces golfers to adjust

When the skies over Oakmont Country Club opened up, one golfer was grateful to see rainstorms interrupt the final round of the U.S. Open.

He went on to win.

“All I was thinking, and even my whole team, my coach, my caddie, they were like, ‘Oh, dude, this is exactly what we need.’ And it was,” said J.J. Spaun, who used that weather delay to regroup from a disastrous start and win the 125th U.S. Open on Sunday. “We went back out and capitalized.”

Weather was a factor throughout the week but never more so than Sunday.

The rain, which was heavy at times, turned areas of the historic course soggy, but the USGA was able to restart the round Sunday after a 96-minute delay rather than postpone. Once groundskeepers swept the water from the low areas, play resumed.

“It seemed like, from when they called it, there was a good chance we’d be restarting,” said former Masters winner Adam Scott, who started Sunday tied for second. Scott said players are used to weather delays.

“Some people go home, and some people get a bit more rowdy when you come back out,” Scott said of the spectators. “It’s a slightly different atmosphere. It can affect the rhythm of things. Unfortunately, I think the course just couldn’t take much more water.”

The Oakmont fairways and greens already were softer than usual after weeks of rainy weather.

‘Waiting for squeegeeing’

The USGA stopped play at 4:01 p.m. for “dangerous weather” in the area. Play resumed around 5:40 p.m. Much like the spectators who stayed through the rain, the players also just waited it out.

“It’s not fun waiting for squeegeeing,” said Cameron Young, who tied for fourth.

Drying off was a priority for the water-logged golfers, who settled on various ways to spend those 90-plus minutes. Some relaxed, some ate, some talked.

“I came in and spoke to my girlfriend, my best pal, my manager, chilled out for 10 minutes,” said Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who finished two shots behind Spaun as the runner-up at 1-over. “I went up into the locker room, dried off my shirt. Stole an air conditioning unit and pointed it towards the shirt. Dried it off. And I just kept stretching, stayed loose, went through my mobility stuff and then just got ready to go.”

Asked if the rain reminded him of his Scottish home, the 28-year-old who attended college in Louisiana joked that he had become a “fair-weather” golfer since joining the PGA Tour.

Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who finished third at 2-over, waited out the rain by talking with family and friends.

“Just sat with my parents and chatted a little bit,” he said. “I was on my phone talking with a few buddies back home. That was about it. It went by pretty quick.”

Three-time major winner Scottie Scheffler noted that golf is an “outdoor sport” when he was asked about the delay.

“Had some food, sat around a bit. Pretty uneventful,” Scheffler said.

Spaun ‘needed to reset everything’

Spaun made a wardrobe change during the weather delay, trading the solid-colored shirt he started his round in for a dry one decorated with lots of small dots.

“I’m like, ‘I’m done wearing those clothes,’ ” Spaun said. “I just needed to reset everything. Kind of, like, start the whole routine over.”

He had a makeover in more ways than one.

A 34-year-old first-time major winner, Spaun seemingly had played his way out of contention by bogeying five of his first six holes Sunday. He had entered the final round in second at 3-under and one shot behind the leader, but he bogeyed Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Spaun was on the ninth tee when officials called a weather delay. For him, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day,” Spaun said. “It just unraveled very fast. But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament.”

This wasn’t the first time Mother Nature let him reset in the middle of a final round. In March at The Players Championship, a delay helped Spaun rally his way into a playoff before finishing as runner-up to Rory McIlroy.

The Players unofficially is dubbed the “fifth major” and draws an elite field to TPC Sawgrass. Several times this week, Spaun said his second-place finish was a measuring stick for how he is capable of playing.

“I was kind of struggling on the front nine (at the Players),” Spaun said. “I had the lead going into Sunday, and we had a four-hour delay, I think. I ended up turning that round into a nice fight where I got myself into the playoff.”

He was in a similar spot Sunday.

This time, Spaun regrouped over the final nine holes to shoot a historic 3-under 32 with four birdies and one bogey. His final-round score on the back nine was the second lowest by a U.S. Open winner at Oakmont, behind only Johnny Miller’s 31 in 1973.

Spaun carded birdies on Nos. 12, 14, 17 and 18, with his only back-nine bogey coming on 15. On the 72nd hole, Spaun rolled in an improbable putt from 64 feet, 5 inches to win by two shots.

The putt might earn a spot among iconic shots.

“To finish it off like that is just a dream,” Spaun said. “You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger (Woods) chip. You see Nick Taylor’s putt. You see crazy moments. To have my own moment like that at this championship, I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life.”

‘Borderline unplayable’

Spaun played well, but course conditions certainly were worse after the weather delay.

Third-round leader Sam Burns had two birdies on the back nine Sunday, but those were undone by his three bogeys and two double bogeys. He finished the tournament 4-over after carding an 8-over 78 on Sunday.

Scott was Burns’ playing partner in the final pairing and had four bogeys and a double bogey among his last eight holes. Scott’s 9-over 79 dropped him to 6-over for the tournament.

The sloppy conditions were a bother. Burns called in rules official to discuss what he considered to be casual water in the fairway.

If it were, he would get relief.

“When I walked into it, clearly you could see water coming up,” Burns said. “Took practice swings, and it’s just water splashing every single time. Called a rules official over, they disagreed. I looked at it again. I thought maybe I should get a second opinion. That rules official also disagreed.

“At the end of the day, it’s not up to me. It’s up to the rules official.”

Burns was saddled with a double bogey on No. 15 after his approach shot found the rough. He smacked the soggy ground with his club in frustration afterward, creating another splash.

“Ultimately, it felt like the water just kind of got in the way, and I went left,” Burns said. “It is what it is.”

Scott called the conditions almost unplayable.

“I was thinking of asking as well,” Scott said. “It was borderline unplayable. The water was, like, so close to the surface. Like the shot I hit on 11, it’s bizarre. I just don’t know. It was like an aquaplane on the ground.”

Scott’s second shot ended up in the rough behind the green, and he bogeyed.

“It’s a tough call, but we played,” Scott said. “Everyone had to deal with it.”

Spaun seemed the least bothered by the mess.

He rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 12 and made a 22-footer for birdie on 14. He added a 3½-footer on No. 17 after driving the green. On 18, he could have two-putted for the win but instead sank a 64-footer.

The last U.S. Open winner to card a final-round 32 on the back nine was Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000.

“I knew with my iron game, as long as I got on the fairway, I could attack because of how soft it got,” Spaun said. “It was a little slower, the greens were a lot softer, and I just tried to take what the course gave me.”