Los Angeles Finally Has a Hero: J.J. Spaun

J.J. Spaun was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb of San Dimas. He was the unlikely winner of the 125th U.S. Open golf tournament Sunday. Spaun is 34 years old and had only one PGA tournament win before winning the most difficult tournament in all of golf.

He started the tournament just one shot behind the leader but promptly bogeyed five of the first six holes of the final round Sunday, putting him seemingly out of the competition. Then heavy rain came, pausing the tournament for over an hour. When he returned to the course, he did so with a renewed focus, roaring back with four birdies on the back nine while other golfers faltered in the harsh conditions. On the final hole, he miraculously sunk a 64-foot put to win.

Surprisingly, he became only the second golfer in history from LA County to win a major golf tournament.  (Colin Morikawa is the other; Tiger Woods is from Orange County.) But that is not what makes him a hero. He is a hero because of what he did the night before.

Spaun is the father of two young daughters. The night before the final round, when most golfers in contention are on lockdown, focused exclusively on the task at hand, Spaun was with his wife, dealing with a very sick child. His two-year-old daughter had caught a stomach bug and was vomiting all night.

At 3 AM, while his competitors were deep asleep, he went off to find some medication for his daughter. He got in his rental car and drove from the suburbs to downtown Pittsburgh to find an open CVS pharmacy. On the morning of Father’s Day, he put his own need for sleep and preparation on the eve of the most important day of his professional life to fetch an over-the-counter remedy he hoped would help his sick little girl. 

After his win, he admitted the rough night may have contributed to his very shaky start.  “It was kind of a rough start to the morning. I’m not blaming that on my start, but it kind of fit the mold of what was going on, the chaos,” he said. He clearly put his chances of winning in jeopardy with his sleepless night.

 LA is in desperate need of heroes. It has been mired in crises, from Covid lockdowns to George Floyd riots to the explosion in homelessness and crime, to disastrous wildfires, to budget deficits, and now violent protests.  We have lots of celebrities but often fail to recognize our real heroes.  We oftentimes lose sight of what really matters. Too often the talk is about who is born “privileged.” 

The only privilege that exists is the privilege of being raised by a loving mother and loving father, which sadly now seems to be the exception, not the rule. But this Father’s Day, a day in which we are supposed to honor fathers, Spaun put his responsibility as a father ahead of his self interest in winning a golf tournament. In the end, he was rewarded with one of the most coveted trophies in golf, and a loving hug from his daughter, who was now feeling just fine.