{"id":236578,"date":"2026-04-06T00:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/236578\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T00:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:02:17","slug":"j-j-spaun-rallies-to-win-texas-open-for-first-title-since-us-open-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/236578\/","title":{"rendered":"J.J. Spaun rallies to win Texas Open for first title since US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 J.J. Spaun came up with two big shots at the end of a long, wet Sunday, one leading to birdie and the other for eagle that carried him to a 5-under 67 and a one-shot victory in the Valero Texas Open for his first title since the U.S. Open last summer.<\/p>\n

Spaun won for the second time at the TPC San Antonio, with one big difference. His victory four years ago got him into the Masters. Now he is the U.S. Open champion who already had his spot at Augusta National secured. But this was an important win.<\/p>\n

He had yet to finish in the top 20 in seven starts this year \u2014 his best was a tie for 24th in The Players Championship \u2014 and now the 35-year-old Californian has a validating win in tough conditions as he heads into the first major of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just \u2014 this game is so crazy,\u201d Spaun said. \u201cI haven\u2019t been feeling at the form I wanted to be based on last season, and just trying to take each day as it comes, and accepting what I have.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just so much that comes with winning big events like that, a U.S. Open or any other major,” he said. “I put a lot of pressure on me to start the year, a lot of expectations. I went into the last few weeks starting at the Players trying to be freed up, and put less pressure on myself, and it\u2019s been trying. But sticking to that mantra has really helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert MacIntyre, who had led for so much of the tournament, completed 12 holes Sunday morning in the storm-delayed tournament for an even-par 72 to stay ahead by one shot going into the final round. The groups didn’t change for the final round in a bid to finish amid more rain \u2014 but no lightning that caused any delays.<\/p>\n

Spaun was in the mix with a dozen other players when he hit his tee shot to 3 feet on the par-3 16th for birdie, and then drove the green on the 306-yard 17th hole to 10 feet for eagle.<\/p>\n

\"J.J.<\/p>\n

J.J. Spaun waves to fans on the 18th hole after the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. Credit: AP\/Darren Abate<\/p>\n

He finished with a par to set the target at 17-under 271, finishing about an hour before MacIntyre and the final group. He was on the range when MacIntyre, three shots behind with two to play, drove the 17th and holed an eagle putt just outside 15 feet to get within one shot.<\/p>\n

But the Scot hooked his second shot from a wet fairway on the 609-yard closing hole \u2014 a par 5 that yielded only 10 birdies in the final round \u2014 and even after getting relief from temporary immovable obstructions, MacIntyre could only hit wedge to 30 feet.<\/p>\n

His birdie putt to force a playoff was short all the way. MacIntyre closed with a 70 to share second place with Matt Wallace (68) and Michael Kim (69).<\/p>\n

He won for the third time on the PGA Tour, two of them at the Texas Open.<\/p>\n

\"J.J.<\/p>\n

J.J. Spaun pitches onto the 18th green during the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament, in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. Credit: AP\/Darren Abate<\/p>\n

Ludvig Aberg had his third straight top 10 \u2014 including The Players Championship where he gave up the lead on the back nine \u2014 going into the Masters. He closed with a 70 and tied for fifth with Andrew Putnam, who needed birdie on the 18th to force a playoff and hit wedge into a back bunker, making bogey for a 70.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 J.J. Spaun came up with two big shots at the end of a long, wet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5407,27,29,28,991],"class_list":{"0":"post-236578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-news","12":"tag-wires-bot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}