PITTSBURGH — J.J. Spaun had seen the chatter on social media about Oakmont Country Club, site of the 125th U.S. Open. He knew the course would pack a punch ... and might knock a few of the best golfers in the world to the mat. The 34-year-old Los Angeles native also didn't care.

Ignorance is bliss? Yeah, something like that.

As the lid lifted on the third major of the season, on a course Spaun had never played before this week, he breezed his way to 4-under 66 and the early lead courtesy of his first bogey-free round at a major.

Not bad for someone playing in just his second U.S. Open.

"I don't know if that freed me up in any aspect," Spaun said. "I just tried to take what the course gave me."

While the course gave others fits, it produced highlights for Spaun, who has won exactly once on the PGA Tour — the 2022 Valero Texas Open — but has seen his game round into form with four top-10 finishes in 2025.

Starting at No. 10, Spaun chipped in from 20 feet, 2 inches for a birdie that he said set the tone for his round. He stopped by the Church Pews on No. 4 but exited with a bad-angle second shot that he jokingly said might've been aided by playing T-ball.

In all, Spaun authored just the eighth bogey-free round throughout U.S. Open history at Oakmont while also posting the lowest inward nine score (31).

Spaun, who has finished in the top 25 six times in 16 starts this season, finished with 3.94 strokes gained putting while reaching 12 of 18 greens in regulation, an opening-round masterpiece that made him the talk of the course.

"I was kind of nervous," Spaun said. "All you've been hearing about is how hard this place is. It's hard to not hear the noise. I tried to harness that, the nerves, the anxiety. It heightened my focus and made me swing better."

These stories happen all the time at majors. A player nobody expects to do much steps out front with a terrific round, then often times falters late.

Maybe that happens here, though for Spaun's sake, I certainly hope not. He's humble and easy to like. It also appears that his game could really be rounding into form after a few near-misses.

Back in January, Spaun finished tied for third at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Less than two months later, Spaun shot an opening-round 64 and finished tied for second with a 17-under 267 at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

In mid-March, Spaun was the 54-hole leader at The Players Championship and finished tied with Rory McIlroy after four rounds, forcing a three-hour aggregate playoff. The next day, Spaun put his tee shot into the water on No. 17, stumbled to a triple-bogey, and lost to McIlroy.

It was obviously frustrating. But Spaun also said being oh-so-close has fueled him and given him confidence at Oakmont.

"I was consistently right there," Spaun said. "Everyone knows the more you put yourself there, the better results you're going to get. You're eventually going to turn one of those close calls into a win.

"There's gonna be a lot of pressure this week. Hopefully I can rely on those experiences."

Due to his sparkling opening round, Spaun has become the hunted, no longer the hunter. It's a place that used to make him nervous and uncomfortable. But over time, Spaun has learned to embrace being out front.

"You don't want to go home thinking, 'What if I didn't embrace this? Who knows what I would have done?' " Spaun said. "That's what all the great players want. If you want to be a great player, that's the route you need to go."

The other interesting part with Spaun involves the tinkering he's done with his game since the Memorial Tournament, which ended June 1. Unhappy with the position of his club at the top of his swing, plus the overall direction of his path, Spaun said he "went down the rabbit hole" trying to find a solution.

After experimenting with a few things, Spaun said he scrapped the entire plan, believing he'd play better at Oakmont without having to think about mechanics. He also did some short-game work with renowned PGA Tour performance coach Josh Gregory, adjusting his technique for disadvantageous lies.

"After I chipped in on the first hole, my caddie jokingly said, 'Nice chip, Josh,' " Spaun said. "I didn't really feel like I was gonna shoot a bogey-free round, but I didn't know what to expect because I've never played here.

"Maybe sometimes not having expectations is the best thing."

It's only one day. There's plenty of golf left. But that's the great thing about four-day tournaments. Surprises are not only welcomed but expected.

Go figure, too. The greens at Oakmont were supposed to be brutal, baked in the sunshine and rendering golf balls impossible to control. Apparently nobody told Spaun, whose history in majors doesn't exactly match his opening-round prowess here.

His best: tied for 23rd at the Masters in 2022.

Yet for a day, Spaun gave Oakmont a piece of his mind.

"It makes me feel good and confident that I'm leading the tournament," Spaun said. "But there's plenty more golf left. This course is only going to get tougher.

"I'm trying to feel like I have nothing to lose. That was my mantra at The Players going into Sunday. I'm gonna roll with that again this week. Hopefully it'll turn out more in my favor."

© 2025 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Visit www.post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.