Match Play & Valero Texas Open
Schribe-Tribe member JJ Spaun took another career step forward this past weekend at the World Golf Championship Dell Computers Match Play Tournament on the PGA Tour in Austin, TX.
JJ qualified for the elite, limited field Match Play for the first time in his career. He was seeded #62 out of 64 players (seedings reflect performance on Tour and World rankings). Players first are grouped into 16 Pools of 4 players each for 3 rounds of round-robin play. JJ won all 3 matches in his pool. He bested #11 seed/World #3 and US Open champ Matthew Fitzpatrick 5&3; #26 seed/World # 29 Sahith Theegala 5&4, and #41 seed/World # 47 Min Woo Lee 2&1.
Winning the pool advanced JJ to a spot in the knockout round of 16 ( 48 players were eliminated). He cooled off a bit, and came up short to World # 7 Xander Schauffle 3&2.
JJ’s recent results have moved him to #69 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He is up from #86 at end of prior year. [JJ is ranked #49 in the new Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings.]
JJ’s strong performance came while fitting in TV peeks on his alma mater—San Diego State University. JJ was a 2x All-American for the Aztecs, and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year. SDSU won 4 games in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, advancing to their first Final Four next weekend in Houston.
JJ will close out March with another first. He is the defending champion in this week’s PGA Tour Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, where he notched the crown in 2022. Here’s hoping JJ is too busy contending for a repeat and unable to make the short trip to Houston for the NCAA tournament.
Well done JJ—real proud that your hard work is paying off.