J.J. Spaun wins Europe's flagship event after being left off US Presidents Cup team

VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — J.J. Spaun responded to his disappointment of being left off the U.S. Presidents Cup team by winning the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday, making four birdies on the last five holes for a 5-under 67 and a two-shot victory in his debut at the European tour's flagship event.

Spaun, last year's U.S. Open champion at Oakmont, made it three Americans winning at Wentworth in the last six years. It was his second victory of the year, having won the Texas Open in April.

“I played with a huge chip on my shoulder,” Spaun said of being overlooked as a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup next week outside Chicago. “I definitely had something to prove this week, but everything happens for a reason.”

As well as he finished, Spaun needed plenty of help from Manuel Elvira.

The 30-year-old Spaniard made a 9-foot eagle on the par-5 17th to tie Spaun for the lead and head to the par-5 closing hole needing birdie to win. Elvira chose iron off the tee, leaving him 254 yards from the green. He decided to lay up, but hit that into a bunker. He hit his next shot over the green, dumped a chip into a bunker and finished with a double bogey for a 70.

“Devastating that I hit the wrong shot at the right time on the lay up and left myself the toughest shot in the fairway bunker, and wasn’t able to pull it off,” Elvira said.

Elvira wound up in a four-way tie for second with Rory McIlroy (68), Adam Scott (68) and PGA champion Aaron Rai (66).

All of them were in the mix in the final hour at Wentworth until Spaun raced to the top. It started with a tee shot to 3 feet on the par-3 14th. He holed a pair of 15-foot birdie putts on the 15th and 16th, and then two-putted for birdie on the 18th to post a 17-under 271.

Spaun loves bringing his family to London, though the 36-year-old Californian wasn't planning on coming to the BMW PGA Championship this year because of travel getting to the Presidents Cup.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker used the final two picks on Jacob Bridgeman, who won at Riviera earlier in the year, and 21-year-old Jackson Koivun, who won in his third start as a pro in July.

Later Sunday, Bridgeman closed with a 61 at the Biltmore Championship Asheville on the PGA Tour to win for the second time this year.

It was surprising to Spaun, particularly since he was one of the rare bright spots for the Americans in his Ryder Cup debut the previous September, going 2-1-0. Spaun had to withdraw from the Tour Championship last month because of a shoulder injury.

He looked healthy as can be against a strong field with so many top contenders.

“Extra motivation, I think that's the will power you have,” Spaun said. “Being left off the Presidents Cup team was very disappointing. I wanted to prove that I deserve to be on the team. I took care of my business.”

McIlroy couldn't quite get over the hump. He was in a four-way tie for the lead at 15 under going to the 18th, but he drove into a bunker, had to lay up and missed an 8-foot birdie chance from the fringe that effectively ended his chances.

“I had my chances out there,” McIlroy said. “Wish I had some of those putts back, but I have to be encouraged with where my game is at.”

His runner-up finish — his best result since winning the Masters — allowed McIlroy to cut into Patrick Reed's lead in the Race to Dubai as he chases an eighth season title in a bid to tie Colin Montgomerie's record.

Spaun now has four career victories, three of them in the last 15 months that will move him just outside the top 10 in the world.

“I blossomed into this player I never thought I could be,” he said. “I've always wanted to be a global player. I'm really happy my schedule worked out the way it did.”

See AP’s full golf coverage here

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland on the 18th green on day four of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Sunday Sept. 20, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Manuel Elvira of Spain on the 18th green on day four of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Sunday Sept. 20, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

J. J. Spaun of United States plays onto the 18th green on day four of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Sunday Sept. 20, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

J. J. Spaun of United States lifts the trophy after winning the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Sunday Sept. 20, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

J. J. Spaun of United States lifts the trophy after winning the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Sunday Sept. 20, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge said Saturday she intends to appoint an ex-top federal prosecutor in the nation's capital during President Donald Trump's first term to investigate whether she was purposefully misled by lawyers and administration officials in a lawsuit challenging one of his prized Washington construction projects, the renovation of a historic public golf course along the Potomac River.

Jessie Liu, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, would examine whether officials with the Interior Department and the National Park Service and attorneys with the Department of Justice violated ethics or misled U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes during the course of the case that was initiated in February by the DC Preservation League and two golfers.

The Republican administration plans to close the East Potomac Golf Course and park on Nov. 15 with the intention of constructing a “World Class, championship-level golf course that is capable of hosting major events." An injunction issued by Reyes last month temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging any additional trees on the course and the administration must give 10 days’ notice in writing before making any “irreparable modification” to any “forms or features” of the course while the lawsuit is active.

Reyes is giving each side a chance to be heard on her plan to name Liu as special master in the case. They must do so in writing by Friday, when the next court hearing in the dispute is scheduled.

Reyes, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, wants to know whether federal officials lied about the extent of renovation plans during months of hearings. She also wants to know if they were truthful about various steps they took, including cutting hundreds of trees early last month. She announced during a hearing Oct. 30 that she was starting a formal investigation of the government's conduct. Earlier in the case, she had rejected numerous motions from the plaintiffs to step in, saying she trusted the government attorneys.

As the city's chief federal prosecutor, Liu oversaw some of the matters referred to her office by then-special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into possible ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump later nominated her to be associate attorney general, the third-highest ranking Justice Department job.

Liu withdrew from consideration after running into opposition on the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee because of her past membership in a lawyers’ group that has supported abortion rights. She eventually resigned from the group because, she said previously, it took left-leaning positions, and she is now part of her own law firm, Liu Shur Kravis LLP.

David Super, a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, said the initiation of a formal investigation by a judge to look into the conduct of a trial's participants "can be a precursor to holding someone in contempt of court.”

Super said it also is a reflection “of the difficulty she had in determining who initiated the tree-cutting in defiance of the assurances DOJ provided. She doesn’t have the time to keep holding long, complex hearings and so wants a special master to narrow the issues.”

Reyes ordered the Oct. 30 hearing after multiple Truth Social posts by Trump indicated there were plans for the golf course and construction was expected to begin Nov. 15. Trump said the park would be closed for 15 months while work goes on.

The presidential posts, which began Oct. 18, created a tense dynamic in multiple court hearings afterward when administration officials could not confirm the existence of the plans under questioning from Reyes. She eventually asked whom she should trust. The Justice Department filed notice Oct. 28 that the plans were real.

Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.

People drive a golf cart past removed trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The Washington Monument is seen as workers remove trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The Washington Monument is seen past stumps of removed trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A golfer watches as trees are removed at East Potomac Park Golf Course, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Jessie Liu, then U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Dec. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)