J.J. Spaun has vowed to embrace imperfection as he aims for a successful U.S. Open defence at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
The American may have teed it up in his national championship as World Number 25 12 months ago but it would be fair to say he was a surprise winner of the trophy at Oakmont.
Since then he has won again on the PGA TOUR and played in a Ryder Cup to truly establish himself at the top of the world game, and he admits there has been some adjustment required.
Those adjustments have led to some indifferent spells of form but outside of the Majors, he has not finished lower then 25th since winning the Valero Texas Open in April, and he credits his children and a Disney anthem for helping him find his way again.
"The whole 'Let It Go', that was definitely a mantra that I had kind of all year," he said of 2025. "I felt like I didn't have anything to lose. That was what kind of carried me with this confidence, without being in those situations in the past is like, 'well, I have nothing to lose'. It's kind of easy to play that way.
"I think that was the difference between actually really having nothing to lose last year, and then to the start of this year now all of a sudden I'm a top ten player in the world, I'm a U.S. Open champion, Ryder Cupper.
"I felt like every week at the start of the year I had to be that guy that needed to show up and play well and kind of validate where I was in the World Rankings and what I had achieved this season.
"So it was the complete opposite of letting it go. I put more pressure on myself, put way more emphasis on outcome instead of just focusing on my process.
"It was a nice corner I turned at THE PLAYERS where I tried to just forget about trying to be this perfect golfer that I thought I was last year, when in reality I just was doing the same things.
"I just was mentally a little bit more nice to myself, I guess, and not so worried about being perfect. That's what led to better golf.
"Yeah, there are some things technique-wise that were a little off, but I think trying to be this perfect golfer that I thought I needed to be to start the year really dragged me down a lot harder in having to play just solid golf."
Last year, Spaun began the final day one shot behind third-round leader Sam Burns and his chances of winning looked to have gone up in smoke after he carded five bogeys in his first six holes on Sunday.
But a 90-minute delay due to dangerous weather just after 4pm local time changed things and he was in a share of the lead stood on the 17th tee.
A birdie there edged him ahead and then he made a spectacular 65-footer on the last to get to one under and finish two shots ahead of Robert MacIntyre.
That kind of adversity is probably not what anyone would ask for in their hunt for a first Major but Spaun believes it can stand him in good stead on Long Island this week.
"Trying to do the exact same thing, same blueprint," he said. "We still have the same amount of kids, so we're full.
"Yeah, it's fun to be together as a unit. I've got my daughters with me, my wife, my caddie. We're all kind of just hanging out and just trying to have fun and enjoy. The biggest thing for me this week is to really enjoy it."
He added: "I was pretty resilient that week. It was nice to get off to a really hot start in the first round, but I think that's the biggest thing at U.S. Opens is being resilient, taking all the punches that are thrown at you, taking your medicine.
"It's not going to be easy golf. It's not going to be ho-hum, very boring golf. But the way I persevered and was resilient last year, I've been trying to use that since then, as well.
"But I think I'll lean on that more, especially this week.
"I think USGA wants you to get every club dirty. That's what they like to live by, and it's going to be true. It's a course where people aren't going to run away with it. You can't win it the first day, but you definitely can lose it.
"I've been a guy that when I'm playing well, fairways and greens are kind of my MO. It's hard to make a lot of mistakes when you're doing that pretty well, especially at a U.S. Open.
"That's what I did at Oakmont. I just kind of played my game, fairways and greens, fairways and greens. I putted really well that week, too, and that's what led me to being in contention and ultimately winning the championship.
"Hopefully I can do that again this year."
