J.J. Spaun

Spaun had a breakout year during the 2021-2022 season, but he failed to back that up this past season. He still managed to earn over $3 million and land in the top-60, but his play didn't resemble what we saw the year prior. Spaun had only four top-10s in 32 starts, one of which came at the Sentry TOC which resulted in a $555k paycheck. Prior to his breakout season, Spaun had been an average to below average golfer on the PGA Tour, so this season will go a long way to determining which way his career goes from here. History would tell us that he'll likely stay at the same level or regress this season, and a significant improvement seems unlikely.

2021-22 was easily the best season of Spaun's career. He picked up his first career victory at the Valero Texas Open and nearly made $3 million. Spaun ended up just missing out on making it to East Lake, much of that had to do with his 78 in the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship while in the final pairing. There are some interesting things here, but Spaun still only rated out 76th in SG: Total and 68th in scoring average. There just isn't a ton of upside if you're expecting Spaun to better his earnings in 2022-23.

Spaun missed the cut in 14 of 26 starts on the PGA Tour in 2020-21, but he tied for second at the Albertsons Boise Open to retain his card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. At the PGA Tour level, he ranked 12th in driving accuracy and collected his lone top-10 of the season at the Safeway Open last September. However, Spaun has not posted a top-30 finish since early May's Wells Fargo Championship.

Spaun played in 20 events last season, but only made the cut in half of them with a best finish of T30. He lost strokes in all areas and ended up 195th in scoring average. Spaun had racked up at least $1.1 million in each of the previous three seasons, so at this point it's hard to see which way 2020-21 is going to go for the San Diego State product.

After a decent rookie campaign and a strong sophomore campaign, all signs were pointing to a big third season for Spaun, but it never materialized. Spaun drastically improved his cuts-made percentage, but he lacked the high-end finishes of his sophomore season. The culprit last season was his game off the tee, where he dropped over 60-spots in strokes gained off the tee from the previous season. If he can fix that issue, he can get back on track. With that in mind, he's worth a look in salary cap leagues this season.

Spaun had a very solid rookie season in 2017, earning over $1 million and finishing the season 91st on the FedEx points list. Spaun was even better in his second season on the PGA Tour as he posted a runner-up, two 3rd-place finishes and four total top-10s. Spaun also nearly cracked the $2 million mark in his second season. For anyone that took a chance on Spaun prior to last season, it surely paid off, but can he improve upon what was a very good season yet again this year? The answer lies in his putting. He's never been a great putter, but he's such a good ball striker that it often makes up for his lack of short game. There is so much room for improvement however that even a small improvement in his putting could result in huge gains. As such, Spaun is a very intriguing salary cap selection this season.

While it wasn't an outstanding season, Spaun accomplished everything a rookie needs to on the PGA Tour last season. He had zero top-5s, but he recorded three top-10s, which coupled with a total of 18 paychecks, was enough to get him safely inside the top-125, which is the main goal of every rookie. Spaun will of course want to improve his overall numbers next season and to do so, he should start with some work in the bunker as he ranked 159th in sand saves last season. It's seems like such a small part of the game, but a stroke here and there can mean the difference between a top-15 and a top-10 and those top-10s add up. It's too early to tell which direction Spaun will go from here and without having much of a track record to go on, he's carries too much risk at this price in salary cap leagues.

Spaun registered one victory – the News Sentinel Open in late August – two seconds and seven top-10s in 2016 on the Web.com Tour, easily sealing his spot on the PGA Tour for 2016-17. The win included middle rounds of 62-64, two of four rounds of 64 or better he shot in competition this year. He also played the Northern Trust Open on the PGA Tour, missing the cut. He was second in greens in regulation on the Web.com Tour at 76.65 percent and was 12th in the all-around ranking. One negative is that he finished 89th in putting average, something that will have to change on the PGA Tour for him to be a strong fantasy player.