After winning the biggest tournaments in the world, players are often asked to donate one of the clubs that helped them to the victory.
Augusta National received Rory McIlroy’s seven iron, which hit some of his most iconic shots on his way to winning The Masters in 2025. Every Masters winner since 1934 has donated a club, starting with Horton Smith’s putter.
Advertisement
The same tradition applies to the US Open, as players donate clubs to the USGA after winning America’s national open. The event was unexpectedly won by JJ Spaun in 2025, who secured his first major win after holing a long putt on the 72nd hole.
He was asked to donate a club to the USGA to commemorate the win, but Spaun turned down their first request and instead sent them a different club!
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
The club JJ Spaun refused to give the USGA after US Open win
The USGA asked Spaun for his putter, which drained the iconic US Open-winning putt on the 18th green at Oakmont. But Spaun said no, because he wasn’t finished using it yet!
Advertisement
Speaking before the Genesis Invitational, he said, “Yeah, they asked for — well, first, my putter.
He continued, “Yeah, I said unfortunately I can’t. That thing is not ready to be retired, especially after that putt. The second probably most valuable club, I think, was my driver, and I actually had switched to a more new head, meaning, like, it was probably getting close to its limit.
“It ended up being kind of unusable anyway, so I donated that, and I think they were pretty happy.”
Spaun’s driving accuracy was a cut above the field at Oakmont, so it’s a worthy club to donate. There’s something special about a player’s relationship with their putter when they’re rolling it well, so there’s no way he was giving that up!
Advertisement
JJ Spaun says why it’s harder to make the PGA Tour now
Spaun fought tooth and nail to make his name on the PGA Tour, almost losing his tour card in 2024. He survived the scare and went on to have the best season of his PGA Tour career.
But if Spaun had struggled this year instead of in 2024, he might not have kept his card. The number of fully exempt places had been reduced to 100, down from 125, so it’s harder than ever to get on the tour and stay on it.
Spaun spoke about these challenges for players: “I would have to say it’s harder now.
“But we’re ultimately trying to make this the most competitive tour in the world, and I don’t know what to say as far as what they’re planning to do with developmental tours and the Korn Ferry being maybe a bigger stage, not so much as like a developmental tour for the PGA Tour.
Advertisement
“But it’s definitely more competitive now. Kids are just so strong and good compared to how it was 15 years ago, and that’s just generation. Generation to generation, everyone is just getting bigger and better, stronger; there’s more technology, there’s more learning to make golfers better.
“I don’t know if the pathway necessarily is harder, but it’s just, I think, harder in general to make it to the Tour because golf is such a competitive sport now.”
Making the PGA Tour more exclusive is ultimately better for the product, but it’s hard to say how many future talents like Spaun will never get the same opportunity to develop later in their careers because of this change.
Read the full article here
