The clubs J.J. Spaun used to win the 2026 Valero Texas Open
J.J. Spaun drove the par-4 17th, made eagle and dodged enough bullets to win his second Valero Texas Open title
It wasn’t exactly Davy Crockett and James Bowie at the Alamo, but J. J. Spaun dodged some bullets on the way to winning the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
It marked the second time Spaun has won the event, emerging victorious in 2022 as well. Standing seven shots in arrears when Sunday’s re-start of the third round began, Spaun finished strong, going 2-2 on 16 and 17 to take the outright lead. He then watched as Michael Kim, Andrew Putnam and, finally, Robert MacIntyre took their shots and missed.
The birdie-eagle sequence began with a 5-iron that Spaun staked to four feet at the 198-yard, par-3 16th. That was followed by a driver to 10 feet on the 306-yard 17th that came to rest 10 feet from the cup, the ensuing birdie leapfrogging Matt Wallace who had finished nearly 90 minutes earlier and needed victory to make his way to Augusta. The tee shot on 17 was reminiscent of the one he hit at the 314-yard, uphill par-4 17th at Oakmont in the final round of last year’s U.
S. Open when Spaun unleashed a drive that found the putting surface, settling 18 feet from the hole. The ensuing two-putt birdie gave him a one-shot cushion heading to 18.