SAN ANTONIO, Texas The final round at TPC San Antonio began with Robert MacIntyre holding a one-shot lead over four men at 13-under, and J.J. Spaun a further shot back, two behind the leader at 12-under. By the time the tournament ended, an afternoon and four and a half hours of golf later, Spaun had moved to 17-under 271, one stroke clear of a three-way tie at 16-under, and the Valero Texas Open belonged to him for the second time.
He entered the week as a contender: 2025 U.S. Open champion, having won this tournament before in 2022, and one of the field's best iron players. He entered Sunday not among the favorites but within reasonable distance. He left as the champion, having played the kind of golf that moves men from contention into victory without apology.
The round
Spaun's 67 closed with five birdies and no bogeys, a 5-under performance that moved him from two shots back to the winner's circle. The lead changed hands in the course of eighteen holes. MacIntyre, who had led by one on Sunday morning and who this column had favored on the basis of his lead and the consistency of his ball-striking, played a 2-under 70, a solid closing round that finished second. Matt Wallace, Michael Kim, and MacIntyre ended the day tied at 16-under, and Spaun one clear.
The victory is the eighth out of the last ten TOUR events to be decided by a single stroke or in a playoff, speaking to the tightness of field and course across this season. Only the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches and the Texas Children's Houston Open have broken that pattern.
The engine of the week was Spaun's ball-striking. He led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green at 9.280, the same statistical strength that had carried MacIntyre through the first three rounds, now claimed by the man who overtook him. Spaun won in his eighth appearance at the Valero Texas Open, a course that has now given him two of his three career titles.
The résumé
Spaun's third PGA TOUR victory in his 252nd start, at the age of 35 years, 7 months, and 15 days, places him in a particular company. The three titles now read: the 2022 Valero Texas Open, the 2025 U.S. Open, and this week's tournament. The U.S. Open victory alone would distinguish a career; the double at this venue, the Valero in 2022 and now in 2026, marks him as a man this golf course has suited twice.
He becomes the eleventh multiple winner of the Valero Texas Open and the first since Corey Conners, who won in 2019 and 2023. The win moves him from No. 115 to No. 24 in the FedExCup standings and projects to move him from No. 13 to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
This was his first top-10 finish of the season, his best prior result a tie for 24th at The Players Championship. The drought broke at a course where his credentials were strongest.
The men he beat
Robert MacIntyre's runner-up finish is his fourth in his career on TOUR, the second at a 54-hole lead position. He opened the week with two of the best rounds of his season and tightened on Sunday when the course demanded precision. His 70 in the final round was a solid closing chapter to a week where his ball-striking led the field; it was not quite enough to convert the lead into a victory.
Matt Wallace posts his second top-3 finish at the Valero Texas Open, having tied for third in 2021. The 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship winner closes with a runner-up finish at his 150th career start, the first second-place result of his TOUR career. His third-round 64 was a moment of pure compression that moved him into contention, and he finished just a stroke short.
Michael Kim recorded the second runner-up finish of his career, his first since the 2025 WM Phoenix Open. The 2018 John Deere Classic winner signed for a 16-under 272 in his 262nd career appearance, nearer to a second TOUR title than he has been in the eight years since his first, yet still one stroke short.
Andrew Putnam and Ludvig Åberg finish tied for fifth at 15-under. Putnam reached 15-under in his 250th career start in a week where he rose from the middle of the leaderboard into contention. Åberg, who held a tie for second at the start of the final round, played a 2-under 70 and found himself one shot outside the conversation by day's end. Further down the board, Tommy Fleetwood, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 4 in the world, closed in a tie for tenth at 11-under, while defending champion Brian Harman finished T39 and 2021 winner Jordan Spieth signed off at even par.
There was a second prize decided on the leaderboard. The Valero was the last of four tournaments feeding the Aon Swing 5, the points race that fills five spots in the field at the RBC Heritage. Wallace's runner-up finish lifted him to second in those standings and into the Signature Event next on the calendar, a consolation of real value for a man who came a single stroke short of the trophy.
The week, in the end
The Valero Texas Open revealed itself across four days as a tournament that would belong to the man who could play offense without hesitation. MacIntyre played the safer game, held the lead, and finished second. Spaun came from two back and took what was in front of him. The difference between first and second was not the decision to attack; it was the execution of the attack, and the timing of it, and the courage to follow through when the moment arrived.
On a Sunday when the course remained soft, the wind light, and the scoring accessible to anyone willing to take it, Spaun was the one unwilling to settle for a chase. He became the eleventh multiple winner of this event and the second man to hold this trophy twice.