News

Oakmont welcomes Spaun to the ‘Keys and Pews Society’

Published

11 months ago

Jun 16, 2025

I count eight piano keys and twelve church pews. Together, they total twenty. By my count, Oakmont had crowned two women’s open and nine men’s open champions, prior to this year’s 125th playing of the men’s open championship. Oak Hill in New York has its Hill of Fame, and other venues find their own ways of remembering champion golfers. With the addition of J.J. Spaun as the 10th USGA Open champion at Oakmont, it’s time for Oakmont to establish an honorary order of sorts for its open champions. We’ll get to that after we relive Spaun’s sloshy march to victory.

The 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont was a tale of two tournaments. The first two days embraced the firm and fast conditions that the membership treasures. Then came the rains, and the course began to hold water. The 1.5-hour delay on Sunday only added to the softness and, perhaps, the uncertainty. At least one Sam Burns lie was deemed not casual water, despite being the precise definition of casual water. And so it went.

40

5 over par. More bogeys than pars. Zero birdies. One flagstick. One rake. That was J.J. Spaun’s outward nine on Sunday at Oakmont. In any other U.S. Open, in any other tournament, his day was ended. Not today, as Arya Stark famously challenged. Somehow, Spaun had the fortitude to put the struggle behind him and grind out an inward 32, thanks to four birdies and one bogey.

136 Yards

Never you mind how J.J. Spaun righted the ship’s balance after that 40. Never you mind how he went from the middle of the fairway on 12 to the native area wide right with his second. What mattered was that the ball was in the gallery pathway, so the grass was trodden and the lie was manageable. Spaun did enough to get the ball on the green. His tap from 40 feet found gravity and rolled out until it came face to face with an abyss, and down it fell, for birdie. Perhaps here, Spaun felt that not all was lost.

22 Feet

After a standard par at 13, Spaun reached the 14th green in regulation. He faced a 22-foot putt from beneath the hole. As the putt began to move to the left, Spaun’s eyes started to widen. With perfect speed, the ball tumbled downward yet again, for another birdie. It was at this juncture when an entire zip code of contenders was tied at 1 over par, but Spaun had eyes on more heroics.

309 yards

There are moments that define the essence of one’s performance, of one’s self. The inspired plays made by Spaun on recent holes were but an appetizer for the main course. As Spaun stepped to the 17th tee, there was never a consideration to hit anything but driver. Everything about the swing, from the path to the pace to the contact, was flawless. The ball never left the flagstick as it soared, waving hello as it eased past, settling a bit past twenty feet beyond the hole. The eagle putt appeared poised to fall, until it broke a bit in the final feet. The second putt, this one for birdie, was true, and Spaun had the lead for the first time in many a hole. Could he preserve it?

64 feet

Thus struck Spaun, and his strike was again true. J.J. Spaun nutted his power fade 295 yards into the 18th hole’s Elysian Field. Next, he feathered a 6-iron from just beyond 200 yards to the green’s front-left quadrant. With 21 yards between his ball and the hole, what was needed was a nice pair of putts, a nice par, and a nice, one-shot advantage over fast-charging Robert MacIntyre. One of those putts wasn’t needed. Spaun’s cross-country effort was precise in every way, and the ball tumbled home with authority. In total, 131 feet of birdie putts over the final seven holes, a two-shot win over MacIntyre, and a second open championship to his name. This one might count for a bit more than the Texas Open that he won in 2022.

John Michael Spaun has joined Patty Sheehan, Juli Inkster, Tommy Armour, Sam Parks, Jr., Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Larry Nelson, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, and Dustin Johnson in what I wish to christen the Keys and Pews Society. It celebrates those infamous church pews and piano keys bunker complexes, nearly eponymous with Oakmont. Membership currently consists of an even dozen.

With the upcoming 2028 and 2038 women’s open tournaments, and the 2033, 2042, and 2049 men’s playings, the storied Pittsburgh club will add five new members, and still have three spots left for the second half of the 21st century. By then, we’ll have a name for the pits of forlorn destiny, alongside holes five and fourteen, which will offer a bit more breathing room. On that note, congratulations once more to J.J. Spaun on his victory in the 2025 U.S. Open championship.

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

News

How much each player won at the 2026 Truist Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Kristoffer Reitan held his nerve at Quail Hollow on Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour victory and the $3.6 million winner’s check that came with it. The Norwegian fended off a packed leaderboard on a dramatic final day, with Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard both taking home $1.76 million for their runner-up finishes.

With a total prize purse of $20 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Truist Championship.

1: Kristoffer Reitan, $3,600,000

T2: Rickie Fowler, $1,760,000

T2: Nicolai Hojgaard, -$1,760,000

4: Alex Fitzpatrick, $960,000

T5: Tommy Fleetwood, $730,000

T5: Sungjae Im, $730,000

T5: J.J. Spaun, $730,000

T8: Ludvig Aberg, $600,000

T8: Harry Hall, $600,000

T10: Patrick Cantlay, $500,000

T10: Matt McCarty, $500,000

T10: Cameron Young, $500,000

13: Justin Thomas, $420,000

T14: Min Woo Lee, $360,000

T14: Chris Gotterup, $360,000

T14: Nick Taylor, $360,000

T17: Alex Smalley, $310,000

T17: Gary Woodland, $310,000

T19: Austin Smotherman, $242,100

T19: Rory McIlroy, $242,100

T19: Keegan Bradley, $242,100

T19: Sudarshan Yellamaraju, $242,100

T19: Kurt Kitayama, $242,100

T24: Patrick Rodgers, $156,643

T24: Pierceson Coody, $156,643

T24: Adam Scott, $156,643

T24: Andrew Novak, $156,643

T24: Harris English, $156,643

T24: J.T. Poston, $156,643

T24: David Lipsky, $156,643

T31: Brian Harman, $114,416.67

T31: Viktor Hovland, $114,416.67

T31: Alex Noren, $114,416.67

T31: Tony Finau, $114,416.67

T31: Nico Echavarria, $114,416.67

T31: Corey Conners, $114,416.67

T37: Sam Burns, $82,187.50

T37: Maverick McNealy, $82,187.50

T37: Akshay Bhatia, $82,187.50

T37: Taylor Pendrith, $82,187.50

T37: Matt Wallace, $82,187.50

T37: Andrew Putnam, $82,187.50

T37: Bud Cauley, $82,187.50

T37: Lucas Glover, $82,187.50

T45: Justin Rose, $60,000

T45: Daniel Berger, $60,000

T45: Ryo Hisatsune, $60,000

T48: Denny McCarthy, $50,000

T48: Aldrich Potgieter, $50,000

T48: Webb Simpson, $50,000

T48: Michael Kim, $50,000

T52: Mackenzie Hughes, $45,187.50

T52: Max Homa, $45,187.50

T52: Brian Campbell, $45,187.50

T52: Jhonattan Vegas, $45,187.50

T52: Matt Fitzpatrick, $45,187.50

T52: Chandler Blanchet, $45,187.50

T52: Jordan Spieth, $45,187.50

T52: Jacob Bridgeman, $45,187.50

T60: Xander Schauffele, $42,500

T60: Robert MacIntyre, $42,500

T60: Ricky Castillo, $42,500

T63: Ben Griffin, $41,250

T63: Sepp Straka, $41,250

T65: Ryan Gerard, $40,250

T65: Si Woo Kim, $40,250

67: Ryan Fox, $39,500

68: Jason Day, $39,000

69: Sahith Theegala, $38,000

70: Sam Stevens, $37,500

71: Hideki Matsuyama, $37,000

72: Tom Hoge, $36,000

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GolfWRX

Oakmont welcomes Spaun to the ‘Keys and Pews Society’

News

Oakmont welcomes Spaun to the ‘Keys and Pews Society’