JJ Spaun says the Rory McIlroy 'experience' helped his mindset after play restarted at the 2025 US Open

JJ Spaun recently won the 125th US Open at Oakmont. According to him, a mental shift from an older experience he had with Rory McIlroy at the Players Tournament helped him achieve this milestone. After a 1-hour, 36-minute weather delay halted play in the final round, JJ Spaun bounced back with an energy shift.

A recent post shared by US Open Radio on SiriusXM featured a video of JJ Spaun, where he addressed the rain delay and how he drew from a similar experience.

"Well, I kind of lean on the Players, or the same thing happened to me, where I was. I wasn't struggling as bad, but I lost the lead on Sunday, had a four-hour delay, came back out, rallied to get into the playoff with Rory. So my coach and caddy, they're like, telling me, you know, this is a good thing. Like, we've been through this. You had this reset before, and you just gotta, you gotta trust it. And so I kind of flipped the switch, I guess you can say, during the rain delay, and came back, you know, swinging," Spaun said.

"And they told me, If you were, if you're told on Monday that you don't, you'd be four shots back, going into the back nine on Sunday, would you you would take that one year and I said yeah of course, is anything can happen on the back nine at a major championship. So, you know, kind of flip the switch and you know, started firing on all cylinders," Spaun added.

The tournament JJ Spaun referred to was the 2025 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in March. The final round of this championship witnessed a four-hour delay due to rain. After regulation ended with both players tied at 13-under-par, and returned to the course for a sudden-death playoff.

Meanwhile, at the US Open, JJ Spaun returned after the rain delay and hit a birdie on the 16th to claim his dominance. He followed it by saving a par at the 17th and then shot a 65-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish with a 2-over 72 and win the title. With that, let's look at how much JJ Spaun earned in prize money.

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Exploring the 2025 US Open payouts ft. JJ Spaun

JJ Spaun clinched the biggest win of his career on Sunday at the 2025 US Open at Oakmont. Along with the winning trophy, Spaun took home $4.3 million in the prize purse. Here is the full list of payouts for the 2025 US Open:

• WINNER - J.J. Spaun (-1) [$4,300,000]
• 2 - Robert MacIntyre (+1) [$2,322,000]
• 3 - Viktor Hovland (+2) [$1,459,284]
• T4 - Cameron Young (+3) [$876,869]
• T4 - Tyrrell Hatton (+3) [$876,869]
• T4 - Carlos Ortiz (+3) [$876,869]
• T7 - Sam Burns (+4) [$614,423]
• T7 - Jon Rahm (+4) [$614,423]
• T7 - Scottie Scheffler (+4) [$614,423]
• T10 - Ben Griffin (+5) [$465,937]
• T10 - Russell Henley (+5) [$465,937]
• T12 - Xander Schauffele (+6) [$348,967]
• T12 - Brooks Koepka (+6) [$348,967]
• T12 - Chris Kirk (+6) [$348,967]
• T12 - Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+6) [$348,967]
• T12 - Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+6) [$348,967]
• T12 - Thriston Lawrence (+6) [$348,967]
• T12 - Adam Scott (+6) [$348,967]
• T19 - Rory McIlroy (+7) [$242,532]
• T19- Ryan Fox (+7) [$242,532]
• T19 - Victor Perez (+7) [$242,532]
• T19 - Emiliano Grillo (+7) [$242,532]
• T23 - Collin Morikawa (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Patrick Reed (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Jordan Spieth (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Thomas Detry (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Jason Day (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Sam Stevens (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Matt Wallace (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Max Greyserman (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Nick Taylor (+8) [$161,132]
• T23 - Chris Gotterup (+8) [$161,132]
• T33 - Tom Kim (+9) [$113,503]
• T33 - Aaron Rai (+9) [$113,503]
• T33 - J. T. Poston (+9) [$113,503]
• T33 - Keegan Bradley (+9) [$113,503]
• 37 - Maverick McNealy (+10) [$101,379]
• T38 - Taylor Pendrith (+11) [$90,408]
• T38 - Tony Finau (+11) [$90,408]
• T38 - Matt Fitzpatrick (+11) [$90,408]
• T38 - Marc Leishman (+11) [$90,408]
• T42 - Hideki Matsuyama (+12) [$72,943]
• T42 - Andrew Novak (+12) [$72,943]
• T42 - Si Woo Kim (+12) [$72,943]
• T42 - Trevor Cone (+12) [$72,943]
• T46 - Niklas Norgaard (+13) [$56,944]
• T46 - Daniel Berger (+13) [$56,944]
• T46 - Rasmus Hojgaard (+13) [$56,944]
• T46 - Jhonattan Vegas (+13) [$56,944]
• T50 - Ryan McCormick (+14) [$48,101]
• T50 - Michael Kim (+14) [$48,101]
• T50 - Adam Schenk (+14) [$48,101]
• T50 - Mackenzie Hughes (+14) [$48,101]
• T50 - Ryan Gerard (+14) [$48,101]
• T55 - Justin Hastings (a) (+15) [$0]
• T55 - Laurie Canter (+15) [$46,081]
• T57 - Sungjae Im (+16) [$45,423]
• T57 - Denny McCarthy (+16) [$45,423]
• T59 - Harris English (+18) [$44,984]
• T59 - Brian Harman (+18) [$44,984]
• T61 - Jordan Smith (+19) [$43,445]
• T61 - Johnny Keefer (+19) [$43,445]
• T61 - James Nicolas (+19) [$43,445]
• T64 - Cam Davis (+22) [$42,351]
• T64 - Matthieu Pavon (+22) [$42,351]
• 66 - Philip Barbaree Jr. (+24) [$41,692]