{"id":775106,"date":"2026-09-18T21:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/775106\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:24:11","slug":"2026-bmw-pga-championship-j-j-spaun-motivated-after-being-u-s-presidents-cups-odd-man-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/775106\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 BMW PGA Championship: J.J. Spaun motivated after being U.S. Presidents Cup’s ‘odd man out’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the many notable contenders chasing the BMW PGA Championship lead<\/a> at Wentworth this weekend is 2025 U.S. Open champ J.J. Spaun.<\/p>\n

Fans probably didn\u2019t expect to see Spaun\u2019s name in the field this week given that he both withdrew from the Tour Championship with a shoulder injury just three weeks ago<\/a> and had no history playing at this tournament until prior to Thursday\u2019s opening round. <\/p>\n

Spaun told reporters after carding a 6-under 66 in Surrey, England on Friday that he didn\u2019t expected to be left off captain Brandt Snedeker\u2019s U.S. Presidents Cup roster<\/a> for Medinah despite the injury which he had described at the time as being like a \u201cknife in my right shoulder blade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was disappointing to be left off,\u201d Spaun said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really \u2014 I wasn\u2019t expecting it to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he had circled Wentworth if he didn\u2019t get the chance to play at the 2026 Presidents Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here and I\u2019m just doing what I do \u2014 play golf, and do the best that I can,\u201d said Spaun, who entered the clubhouse two shots off the lead at 8 under after 36 holes.<\/p>\n

He now sits four back of Ryan Gerard\u2019s lead 12 under heading into the weekend. Gerard was another player left on the wrong side of the U.S. Presidents Cup team bubble, with Snedeker electing to pick 21-year-old Jackson Koivun<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Gerard got into the clubhouse with a bogey-free 65 by dominating the final two par-5s on the course. He posted an eagle at the 610-yard 17th hole before finishing with a birdie at 18 to gain three strokes on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cStayed patient all day,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cYou know when you get to the last couple holes at Wentworth here, they are gettable. There\u2019s also trouble lurking, so you have to be careful. Just felt like we were putting the ball in the right spots all day. Good things happen when you sick to the plan and execute shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Odd man out\u2019<\/p>\n

Spaun believes his performance the 2025 Ryder Cup<\/a> would have been enough to get him onto the Presidents Cup roster as a captain\u2019s pick.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he won the Valero Texas Open<\/a> in April and finished in the top 30 in the FedExCup points list<\/a> this summer \u2014 good enough to make it to Atlanta for the season finale before the shoulder flared up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of did everything I could,\u201d Spaun said. \u201cI was the odd man out.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The third round of the BMW PGA Championship is underway at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the many notable contenders chasing the BMW PGA Championship lead at Wentworth this weekend is 2025 U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-775106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}