CROMWELL, Conn. — J.J. Spaun’s world has turned so upside down since his shocking U.S. Open victory, he literally doesn’t know what day it is. His younger daughter, Violet, will be celebrating her birthday on Thursday. Until Spaun began talking about it Wednesday ahead of this week’s Travelers Championship, he didn’t realize that tomorrow is, in fact, Thursday and Violet’s birthday.
“I’m not like fully in the clouds still, but we’re getting a little below the ceiling, the cloud ceiling,” Spaun said of where his head as he gets ready to play his first tournament his career-changing victory. “It’s been a whirlwind. The aftermath of this whole championship has been so crazy but so much fun, and all these doors opening. It’s stuff that you don’t expect ever really to happen in your career.”
Spaun, of course, is coming off his first major win, sinking a 64-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Oakmont Country Club Sunday to finish one- under for championship and to win by two strokes. In the time since having to deal with Violet throwing up the night before his final round, Spaun hasn’t had much time to relax or reset—outside of the 96-minute delay that turned him from a journeyman into a major champion. In the aftermath, Spaun, 34, said messages from George Lopez, Mookie Betts, Scott Van Pelt, Curtis Strange and Hale Irwin have been his most memorable.
While throwing his putter and dancing in celebration marked the point where Spaun, who contemplated walking away from competitive golf last year, closed out the title, his night was just beginning. Spaun said he didn’t leave Oakmont until around 1 a.m. after the formalities of his ceremony, signing memorabilia, getting his trophy and seeing the trophy engraved.
When he got back to his hotel in Pittsburgh about 30 minutes later, he took a shower before lying in bed trying to respond to as many messages as he could.
“I just tried to see what was going on to help me like soak it in and realize that it actually happened because it’s just been such a blur since then,” Spaun said.
Following a “quick three hours of sleep,” Spaun and his family headed to New York City. Even before teeing off at the U.S. Open, Spaun mentioned he wanted to go to New York City sometime between playing at Oakmont and TPC River Highlands. Originally, his wife wasn’t on board. A historic week of golf wound up changing their plans.
“She wasn’t for it, but it ended up becoming mandatory after the week on Sunday,” Spaun said with a smile.
In the city, Spaun enjoyed a nice dinner with his family before going to bed. Though he didn’t get much rest, as he went on a media tour Tuesday that included appearing on The Today Show, beginning at 6 a.m. and going until around 3:30-4 p.m. “It was literally nonstop,” Spaun said of the day.
From there, Spaun and his family were driven to Connecticut, which he said took nearly 3½ hours. At 8 p.m., he walked through the front door of his hotel before getting some much-needed sleep.
“I slept about eight hours, which was nice,” Spaun said. “The last two nights, I got the same amount as I did last night combined.”
Thankfully, Spaun can sleep in a little on Thursday as his first-round tee time isn’t until 1:45 p.m. Mind you, the morning will likely be spent celebrating Violet’s big day. And after that, Spaun will see if he can make it a second-straight weekend of golf that’ll unlocks a new chapter to his Cinderella story.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
