VIRGINIA WATER, England — Four birdies in his last five holes to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth was enough indication that J.J. Spaun was a man on a mission at the DP World Tour’s flagship event.
But there was another reason he was desperate to win at Wentworth.
Spaun was devastated at being left off the U.S. team for next week’s Presidents Cup at Medinah. Earlier this month, weeks before Spaun made his debut at Wentworth, he was bizarrely snubbed for a captain’s pick on Brandt Snedeker’s side.
“I played with a huge chip on my shoulder,” Spaun said after firing a four-under-par 67 to win the BMW PGA by two shots.
Announced on September 1, Snedeker’s six picks for the matches against the International team were Chris Gotterup, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Jacob Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun.
The 2025 U.S. Open champion Spaun was a notable omission. He had finished 10th on the U.S. Presidents Cup points list, although he didn’t post a top 20 in his last five starts before the team was finalized. Spaun, though, was excellent at last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage, going 2-1-0 and was one of just three Americans with a winning record.
“Sneds called me, and just landed to Phoenix,” Spaun recalled of how the news was broken to him. “It was like a 45-second phone call. Just said I wasn't on the team and said I was the ‘odd man out’ and I wished him luck and that was it.”
When followed up if “odd man out” was exactly how it was phrased over the phone, Spaun said: “He did. You can quote me on that.”
ADRIAN DENNIS
Spaun’s conversations with Snedeker were “good ones” throughout the year and that it “led me to believe that I would make the team, yeah.”
If Spaun had made the U.S. team, it would have been an effort for him to get to Chicago from London quickly.
And a star-studded field at Wentworth was the victim of his determination.
“It was disappointing to end the [PGA Tour’s] Tour Championship withdrawn and disappointing not to be on the Presidents Cup team, and I wanted to come here and end my year because I had not planned on playing anything on the PGA Tour for the rest of year,” Spaun said. “I wanted to end my year right, and it just worked out perfectly.”
In the end, it did. Spaun won by two shots over Aaron Rai, this year’s PGA Championship winner at Aronimink, as well as Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and overnight co-leader Manuel Elvira. The quartet shared second at 15 under.
World No. 17 Spaun began the final round at Wentworth just one shot off the pace and fell further away with a bogey at the first. But the Californian rallied with birdies at the par-5 fourth and par-3 fifth.
The 36-year-old, who won the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open earlier this year, birdied four of the final five holes including the 18th to win his first DP World Tour victory (outside of the U.S. Open).
But it wasn’t without drama. Fans enjoyed a grandstand finish when Elvira eagled the par-5 17th to join the lead. Moments earlier, crowd favorite McIlroy had made a run but still needed an eagle at the par-5 18th to force a playoff. But the career Grand Slam winner found a fairway bunker for his tee shot and had to lay up—essentially ruling out an eagle 3.
“I had my chances out there,” McIlroy said. “I putted OK for the most part this week but I missed a lot of putts over the weekend. But I have to be encouraged with where my game is at; I hit the ball really well today.”
McIlroy bowing out left Spain’s Elvira needing only a par on 18 to take Spaun into overtime, or a birdie to win. But Elvira made a gut-wrenching double-bogey 7 after airmailing the green for his third shot, then leaving his fourth shot in a greenside bunker.
Spaun was already a DP World Tour member but he solidified his status after winning one of the circuit’s Rolex Series events. He plans on playing more on the DP World Tour going forward.
“This is got to be up there with one of my favorite events,” Spaun said. “A couple things needed to happen for me to be here but it did, and I ended up making the most of it.”
Indeed, he did.