It took four birdies in his final holes — plus a devastating 18th-hole collapse from his final challenger — but J.J. Spaun emerged the winner at Wentworth in his first-ever BMW PGA Championship.
And he sent a message in the process.
First, the good vibes: All week Spaun raved about the opportunity to play in England, at the DP World Tour’s flagship event, on a top-tier golf course in front of massive crowds. Spaun and his family frequent the U.K. on pre-Christmas vacations, he added, but outside of the Open Championship he hasn’t played much tournament golf here.
(Sidenote: Merely saying “vacations” undersells it. Here’s Spaun on how he and his wife nearly ended up with a cottage in the Cotswolds:
“After I lost The Players [in 2025], my wife, she wanted to make a bet with me. She goes, “If you win a tournament, like you’re playing great, you finished second at the Honda, third, just lost in a playoff, I think you’re going to win. If you win a tournament this year, you’ll buy me a cottage in the Cotswolds.”
“[I said] no. That’s not a big enough accomplishment to buy a cottage in England.”
“Okay. What about if you won a major?”
“Of course if I won a major, I’ll do whatever you want.”
“And fast forward [to winning the U.S. Open], she’s sending me listings on Zillow the following day. It’s hilarious. We’ve come to a compromise. We don’t own a cottage yet.”)
Then came this week.
“The stars kind of aligned this week for me to come out on top, and I’m just grateful to have the opportunity and play and play well and give myself a chance and came out with a W,” he said.
Those stars aligned for a bittersweet reason: Spaun came up on the disappointing end of a Presidents Cup decision from U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker, who left Spaun off the team after a lackluster finish to the season plus a WD with injury at the Tour Championship. Still, Spaun — who’d finished 10th on the points list and also played well at last fall’s Ryder Cup — admitted his omission came as a surprise. And when it came time to tee it up this week, he drew on that as fuel.
“We haven’t spoken,” Spaun said of Snedeker, asked if the win had sent some kind of message. “But yeah, I played with a huge chip on my shoulder. I definitely had something to prove this week. But everything happens for a reason. I’m so delighted to be here and just to even play this event.
“I’ve always wanted to play for the longest of time. The extra motivation, I think that is the willpower that you kind of have. And being left off the Presidents Cup team a couple weeks ago was very disappointing, and I wanted to prove that I deserve to be on that team. I took care of my business this week. So all the best to the team next week at Medinah, and I’ll be watching.”
That was in his immediate post-round interview. In his press conference he detailed his specific frustration with this exchange:
Q.How did you find out that you weren’t on the Presidents Cup team?
JJ SPAUN: Sneds called me Monday morning, and just landed to Phoenix. 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.
Q.Sneds said that’s what —
JJ SPAUN: Yeah, he did. You can quote me on that.
Q.Did you think going into the process that you felt pretty good about being on the team?
JJ SPAUN: I’m not at liberty to say what was — what my impression was or whatever. But I thought I was pretty good. I thought I was pretty good.
Q.Had you had conversations during the year with Snedeker?
JJ SPAUN: Yeah. Good ones.
Q.Did it lead you to believe one way or the other?
JJ SPAUN: It led me to believe that I would make the team, yeah.
Spaun represented the U.S. overseas instead; he became just the third American to win the BMW PGA after Arnold Palmer and Billy Horschel.
“You know, being left off was obviously for a reason,” Spaun said. “I don’t know what that reason was, but I’m here now and there was a reason why we’re here. My caddie kept telling me that, and it’s crazy how this has happened. You know, everything does happen for a reason. I’m just super happy.”
Interestingly enough this marks the third consecutive season that the BMW PGA has been won by a player who’d missed out on a spot with his respective team. In 2025 Alex Noren’s win was a reminder just how close he was to playing on the star-studded European Ryder Cup team. And in 2024 Billy Horschel won the week before the U.S. played the Presidents Cup in Montreal, where he hadn’t made the team.
It’s a heck of a consolation prize for Spaun.
“It means so much. You know, I’ve kind of blossomed into this player I never thought I could be,” he said.
