J.J. Spaun doesn't need to be a 'perfect golfer' to validate his US Open triumph

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Defending U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun started thinking he had to become a “perfect golfer” to validate last year’s success. It only made his game worse.

Now he’s back at the U.S. Open with the same mindset that drove him to the best season of his career, highlighted by his major championship, two wins in his Ryder Cup debut and a top-10 ranking.

He's got nothing to lose.

“I tried to just forget about trying to be this perfect golfer that I thought I was last year, when in reality I just was doing the same things,” Spaun said Monday ahead of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

Spaun, 35, missed three cuts in his first five events this year and finished no better than 40th in the other two before a mental reset at The Players Championship in March. He finished tied for 24th and, three weeks later, won the Valero Texas Open.

“I just was mentally a little bit more nice to myself, I guess, and not so worried about being perfect,” Spaun said. “That’s what led to better golf.”

Spaun has had two top-10 finishes in his last four events coming into the U.S. Open, tying for fifth at the Truist, sixth at the Charles Schwab and 12th at the Memorial.

But he missed cuts at both majors. At the PGA Championship last month at Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia, he squandered an even-par start with a 6-over par second round and missed the cut by two strokes.

“I got too caught up in thinking I was the only one putting poorly," Spaun said. “But apparently everyone was three-putting. I think if I would have just accepted that, I would have done less three-putting and maybe it would have been a different week.”

Spaun said he's worked to improve his putting technique and has seen improvement in how the ball rolls off the face of his club. He spent more than an hour practicing putting on Monday at Shinnecock Hills, where notoriously fast, sloping greens had been tempered — for now — by overnight rain.

“I’ve seen some good rounds with that feel the last couple weeks at Colonial and Memorial,” Spaun said. “I’m definitely trending on the upside with the putter.”

It was Spaun's putter that won the U.S. Open last year at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh. He sank a 65-foot putt to take the tournament by two strokes over Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.

Even in winning, Spaun wasn't perfect. He shot a 5-over-par 40 on the front nine before a 90-minute weather delay gave him a chance to regroup. He was eight strokes better on the back nine.

Back then, Spaun really had nothing to lose.

A journeyman for most of eight full PGA Tour seasons, he was in danger of being relegated from the tour a year before his U.S. Open triumph. Then he changed his game and his mindset with help from his daughter’s incessant playing of the song “Let it Go” from the movie “Frozen.”

“The whole ‘Let It Go,’ that was definitely a mantra that I had kind of all year,” Spaun said. “I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose. That was what kind of carried me with this confidence, without being in those situations in the past is like, well, I have nothing to lose. It’s kind of easy to play that way.”

After winning, Spaun said, “it was the complete opposite of letting it go. I put more pressure on myself, put way more emphasis on outcome instead of just focusing on my process."

Going into this year's tournament, Spaun said he's “trying to do the exact same thing, same blueprint,” as last year. That means having his wife and daughters by his side and living in the moment, with nothing to lose.

“We’re all kind of just hanging out and just trying to have fun and enjoy,” Spaun said. “The biggest thing for me this week is to really enjoy it.”

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