Media Center Interviews
April 5, 2026
Champions Press Conference with J.J. Spaun
MODERATOR: We're excited to welcome 2026 and now two‑time winner of the Valero Texas Open, J.J. Spaun.
J.J., you had a long wait there to finally get there at the end. Can you talk us through the last two hours and how are you feeling now after clinching the third win?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, it's special always having them with me whether it's a successful week or not. They were at Oakmont. Well, my youngest daughter wasn't born yet when I first won here in 2022, so it was cool to have the whole family here.
It's such a fun week. Everything's so convenient. There's so much great hospitality they do here taking care of us. The water parks and everything are so fun, daycare is easy, there's a bunch of little events for the kids. It's a week in the schedule that we always like to come to as a family.
Q. Mr. Spaun, what was your strategy coming into Valero Texas Open this year?
J.J. SPAUN: My strategy was to not spiral, believe it or not. Like I've been kind of going crazy as far as like my golf swing and how I've been playing. You can look at my results, I've missed three or four cuts this year. I've had some middle‑of‑the‑pack finishes. I didn't know how I was going to play every single week.
But going into this week I kind of accepted where my game was, if that makes any sense, and just said this is what I have and this is what I'm going to play golf with and I'm going to accept the outcome, I'm going to just try and get the ball in the hole. I obviously was the best at it this week.
Q. Mr. Spaun, obviously you had a great hole on 17 for eagle. What was your thought process on the tee when you were looking at that hole?
J.J. SPAUN: So, 17, it was kind of like a tweener between 3‑wood and driver. I think if there was more wind I would have hit 3‑wood, but I knew I was one back of the lead, I wanted to be aggressive and take driver, just kind of hit like a 90‑percent driver.
I kind of had a flash of my tee shot at Oakmont at the U.S. Open last year on 17 on Sunday where I drove the green and ended up making birdie. It was kind of a nice image that I had in my mind before I pegged it and hit the shot.
Yeah, I stepped in there and put a really good swing on it. It landed a yard or two short of the green and trickled to about 10 feet and buried the putt. That was really big obviously for the round and for where I was position‑wise on the leaderboard.
Q. J.J., how do your expectations for yourself and your career change ‑‑ this is a two‑part question. First one is how did your expectations change after the U.S. Open Championship?
J.J. SPAUN: Well, yeah, they kind of changed a lot I think because I was riding on so much confidence and so much self belief right after the U.S. Open. I continued to play well. I almost won in Memphis, a lot in a playoff there. Played really well at the Ryder Cup.
Then it was like when I had kind of like this physical end to the season and now it's like a new start, like I've put way too much pressure on myself that I needed to be the best sixth player in the world that tees it up every week that needs to show up and needs play well and needs to contend.
That's an uncomfortable position for me because I've never been there, but it was more of like the complete opposite mindset that I had last year, where last year I kind of accepted playing with nothing to lose. I felt like that helped me free up myself mentally.
Even starting at THE PLAYERS, in the playoff and then coming down the stretch at the U.S. Open, like I cared but I didn't want it to like consume me by caring too much, a/k/a putting too much pressure on myself. That was the complete opposite mindset that I had starting the year. I felt like I needed to be this perfect golfer, I needed to validate whatever I did last year. It just put so much expectation on myself that I couldn't handle it. I was spiraling every week, not hitting it how I wanted to then changing my swing and working with my coach and neglecting the short game and putting. Next thing you know, my whole game was like a mess.
I think at THE PLAYERS I did a really good job of kind of accepting where my game was and just know like you don't have to have your A‑game to win. You hear a lot of guys say that all the time.
That's kind of what I did this week. That is what I did this week. I didn't have my A‑game, but I just accepted what I was able to use this week. Went out there and just tried to get the ball in the hole and whatever outcome I had, whether it was a shot or a hole, I just accepted it and moved on.
So that's kind of going back to that mentality of feeling like I have nothing to lose and just trying to free myself up mentally.
Q. That leads us to part two of my question, which is where are you right now after winning today? Where is your confidence, where is your belief, where are your expectations?
J.J. SPAUN: I think the biggest lesson for me this week was learning that like I don't have to be perfect to win golf tournaments. I don't think I was perfect at the U.S. Open, I don't think I was perfect when I won here in 2022.
But I'm proud that I was able to hit the shots that I wanted to hit when the moment needed it. That proved to me that like wherever I feel like my golf swing is or wherever mentally, if I'm not confident in being able to hit certain shots, that I pulled it off today and down the stretch when it mattered. That's all that matters. I need to just continue to use that mindset for the rest of the season.
MODERATOR: Any more questions for J.J.? All right, J.J., congratulations.
J.J. SPAUN: Thank you, guys.
