"You keep knocking at that door" - J.J. Spaun reveals Jack Nicklaus' encouraging words that inspired him to US Open win

J.J. Spaun ended his nearly three-year winless streak with a stunning victory at the 2025 US Open. The 34-year-old secured the title by one stroke at Oakmont, becoming the only player to finish under par for the week. Ahead of his participation in the upcoming Scottish Open, the American golfer revealed the encouraging words from legendary Jack Nicklaus that inspired his first major win.

His win marked a huge comeback since his last triumph at the Valero Texas Open in April 2022. J.J. Spaun revealed that a brief encounter with Nicklaus at the Memorial Tournament gave him the confidence to push forward.

While he missed the cut at Muirfield Village, Spaun claimed Nicklaus stopped him for a brief chat and praised his form. Speaking during the pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open on Wednesday, July 9, J.J. Spaun revealed his conversation with Nicklaus, saying:

“I never really engaged with him before that. He just said I was playing really well. I said, ‘Yeah, it would have been nice to win.’ He's like, ‘You keep knocking on that door, you're going to knock one down."

The following week, J.J. Spaun made that statement come true by lifting the US Open trophy. Spaun also revealed Nicklaus later sent him a congratulatory letter, which he described as “really cool”.

"And literally the next week that happened, so he remembered that and sent me a nice note, which was really cool," Spaun added.

J.J. Spaun’s 2025 season has been mixed so far. He has made 18 starts, recording one win, a runner-up finish at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, along with five top-10s and eight top-25 finishes. He missed the cut at two events and withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open. His US Open win moved him up to No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 7 in the FedEx Cup standings.

When will J.J. Spaun tee it up at the Genesis Scottish Open?

J.J. Spaun is set to make his 19th start of the 2025 PGA Tour season at the Genesis Scottish Open. He will tee off on Thursday, July 10, at 8:54 a.m. ET from the first tee. He is grouped with Tommy Fleetwood and Connor Syme for the opening round.

Here are the full tee times (ET) for Thursday’s first round:

Tee No. 1

• 2:00 a.m. – Joel Dahmen, Ryan Gerard, Marcel Schneider
• 2:11 a.m. – Henrik Norlander, Darius Van Driel, Ugo Coussaud
• 2:22 a.m. – Dylan Frittelli, Denny McCarthy, Romain Langasque
• 2:33 a.m. – Matt McCarty, Gary Woodland, Eugenio Chacarra
• 2:44 a.m. – Nico Echavarria, Taylor Moore, Marcel Siem
• 2:55 a.m. – Matthieu Pavon, Lee Hodges, Keita Nakajima
• 3:06 a.m. – Karl Vilips, Joe Highsmith, Thorbjørn Olesen
• 3:17 a.m. – Jhonattan Vegas, Jake Knapp, Daniel Hillier
• 3:28 a.m. – Andrew Putnam, Brandon Stone, Frederic Lacroix
• 3:39 a.m. – Mackenzie Hughes, Nacho Elvira, Elvis Smylie
• 3:50 a.m. – Ryo Hisatsune, Yannik Paul, David Ravetto
• 4:01 a.m. – Brandt Snedeker, Andy Sullivan, Angel Hidalgo
• 4:12 a.m. – Max McGreevy, Aaron Cockerill, Hongtaek Kim
• 7:15 a.m. – Michael Kim, Samuel Stevens, Jordan Gumberg
• 7:26 a.m. – Jacob Bridgeman, Victor Perez, Pablo Larrazábal
• 7:37 a.m. – Brian Campbell, Si Woo Kim, Shaun Norris
• 7:48 a.m. – Andrew Novak, Rasmus Højgaard, Daniel Brown
• 7:59 a.m. – Harry Hall, Luke Donald, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
• 8:10 a.m. – Harris English, Byeong Hun An, Kristoffer Reitan
• 8:21 a.m. – Brian Harman, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ewen Ferguson
• 8:32 a.m. – Aldrich Potgieter, Ryan Fox, Justin Rose
• 8:43 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele
• 8:54 a.m. – J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood, Connor Syme
• 9:05 a.m. – Tom Kim, Daniel Berger, Marco Penge
• 9:16 a.m. – Thriston Lawrence, Nicolai von Dellingshausen, Alex Fitzpatrick
• 9:27 a.m. – Alex Smalley, David Ford, Francesco Laporta

Tee No. 10

• 2:00 a.m. – Sami Välimäki, Isaiah Salinda, Ockie Strydom
• 2:11 a.m. – Paul Waring, Bernd Wiesberger, Sean Crocker
• 2:22 a.m. – Davis Riley, Richie Ramsay, Guido Migliozzi
• 2:33 a.m. – Maverick McNealy, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Nicolai Højgaard
• 2:44 a.m. – Aaron Rai, Haotong Li, Jordan Smith
• 2:55 a.m. – Corey Conners, Padraig Harrington, Calum Hill
• 3:06 a.m. – Wyndham Clark, Sungjae Im, John Parry
• 3:17 a.m. – Sepp Straka, Justin Thomas, Laurie Canter
• 3:28 a.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Adam Scott
• 3:39 a.m. – Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, Martin Couvra
• 3:50 a.m. – Thomas Detry, Sam Burns, Adrien Saddier
• 4:01 a.m. – Danny Walker, Johannes Veerman, Alejandro Del Rey
• 4:12 a.m. – Rikuya Hoshino, Joe Dean, Ryggs Johnston
• 7:15 a.m. – Bud Cauley, Jacques Kruyswijk, Dan Bradbury
• 7:26 a.m. – Matti Schmid, Niklas Norgaard, Matthew Jordan
• 7:37 a.m. – Danny Willett, Antoine Rozner, Richard Mansell
• 7:48 a.m. – Kevin Yu, Taylor Pendrith, Julien Guerrier
• 7:59 a.m. – Erik van Rooyen, Francesco Molinari, Sebastian Söderberg
• 8:10 a.m. – Nick Taylor, Keith Mitchell, Adrian Otaegui
• 8:21 a.m. – Chris Gotterup, Tom Hoge, Simon Forsström
• 8:32 a.m. – Matt Wallace, Alex Noren, Ashun Wu
• 8:43 a.m. – Alejandro Tosti, Dale Whitnell, Sam Bairstow
• 8:54 a.m. – Matteo Manassero, Jorge Campillo, Grant Forrest
• 9:05 a.m. – Patrick Rodgers, Jesper Svensson, Dylan Naidoo
• 9:16 a.m. – Max Greyserman, Yuto Katsuragawa, Wooyoung Cho
• 9:27 a.m. – Luke Clanton, Junghwan Lee, Todd Clements