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The PGA Tour has a new superstar in Jackson Koivun, and the final major of the year is this week in England.
Action Jackson
It took Jackson Koivun just three starts to win on the PGA Tour, taking the 3M Open in Minnesota by three shots over a hard-charging world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on a tournament record of 25-under 259.
While the Auburn product — twice a national champion and thrice an SEC individual champion — shot the same weekend total as Scheffler, Koivun had a three-shot edge over the opening two rounds to establish what turned out to be a winning cushion.
On the par-5 18th, Koivun finally made a nervous driver swing, hitting driver fat for the shortest drive of the week on the closing hole. Still, he managed to get home in three after a good layup. Needing a two-putt par for the tournament record, Koivun left his birdie big nearly 15 feet short. He gathered himself, however, and made the par putt to win in style for the first time on the PGA Tour.
"That's what we train for," Koivun said afterwards. "That's the position we all strive to be in even through college. It's like you want to be leading a PGA Tour event, and that's what you train for, you work for. Once you're finally in it, you've just got to keep your head down and commit to every single golf shot. Fortunately, it worked out for me today."
With the win, Koivun moves up to 73rd in the Official World Golf Ranking and just inside the top 70 for the FedEx Cup playoffs, with two events to go in the regular season.
It will be easy to get carried away thinking about the potential Koivun has, and some of that hysteria will be justified. He contended on the PGA Tour as an amateur, and he did unprecedented things in his collegiate career. He’s among the betting favorites this week, in just his fourth pro start, for the Rocket Classic this week in Detroit. He’ll have some struggles, undoubtedly, as he looks to quickly climb over the next hill of being thrust into a new world of attention.
However, like Scheffler, Koivun’s greatest strength may not even be his golf game. Rather, it’s his mental game. At multiple points through the weekend, including his Saturday 61 and on the back nine on Sunday, Koivun stopped to slow down, reset his thinking and expectations, and return focus to his game plan: confidence, trust and dominate.
“Dominate's a word I came up with in college because I just want to go see how good I can play,” Koivun told CBS after the win.
We’re all just beginning to find out how good this guy can be.
For a look at the year’s final major championship, scroll down!
Why LIV Golf could be truly toast
A new partnership between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Asian Tour could mean the end of LIV Golf and its hopes for a future beyond 2026. I explain why the partnership is such a big deal, impacting LIV Golf's plans for its future schedule, getting Official World Golf Ranking points and the way they hope to raise money to save the league.
The last last major of the year
The absolute final major of the year — between the men, women and seniors — is this week in England. The AIG Women’s Open will be at Royal Lytham and St. Annes (no apostrophe!), where Englishwoman Geogia Hall won in 2018. Miyu Yamashita, who won in Wales last year at Royal Porthcawl, has been brilliant of late.
However, it’s really a two-player race heading into the week, with Nelly Korda having the most wins on the LPGA Tour this year, including the first two majors. Haeran Ryu has won the last two majors in vastly different ways, including threatening 59 at the Amundi Evian Championship. This event could be the tiebreaker on who would be considered Player of the Year.
Lottie Woad, who contended for three rounds in France, could win on home soil and cement her status as a future great. Charley Hull has struggled of late, but a major breakthrough would be tremendously popular. Jeeno Thitikul has multiple wins this year, but she’s still looking for that first major title. After a disappointing start to the majors, Lydia Ko has shown out well in the last two. Brooke Henderson has been in the top three of the last two majors, and she’s now happily engaged.
It has been a banner year for the LPGA so far, and hopefully their major calendar ends with a bang.
The Links
We have the Rocket Classic on the PGA Tour this week, the next-to-last regular-season event that’s boasting a surprisingly good field.
I have a lot of fantasy content already up and going for the Detroit event, and the model will be up for our members tomorrow. I’ve been doing some work in my home, moving from one office and studio space to another, so it’s been a little hectic.
Jenny Shin won for the first time in more than 10 years on Sunday, taking the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links. She went wire-to-wire for the win, including a closing 75 that was more than enough to get the job done.
Jerry Kelly is a senior major winner for the third time and a PGA Tour Champions winner for the 14th time with his victory in the ISPS Handa Senior Open (a big weekend for Dr. Handa, I guess). At nearly 60 years old, this could be a capstone on his senior career.
While Jackson Koivun is getting all the rightful love for his 3M Open win, the enormous Tommy Morrison won the Evans Scholars Invitational on the Korn Ferry Tour in just his 4th pro start. He’s almost certainly going to the PGA Tour next year, coming out of the gate: T10-T5-2nd-WIN.
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