After doing plenty of things that Scottie Scheffler could not do in his college/amateur career, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun did something that most professional golfers dream of doing to the American world No1 – keep him at bay and beat him coming down the stretch on Sunday.
Koivun was absolutely stunning in winning the 3M Championship last week, beating Scheffler by three shots with an aggregate of 25-under par.
The world No1 charged like a relentless bull with his own seven-under round on Sunday, only for Koivun to bring the beast to its knees with the classic ‘side-bend’ move of a seasoned matador. That ‘side bend’ is a real thing with Koivun’s swing – a prominent right-side bend and an upper-body tilt away from the target – that gives him a unique Ryan Fox-like swing and helps generate massive power.
We all love quirky swings, and we all love champion golfers with quirky swings.
My personal take…I thought it would be extremely difficult for any college golfer to immediately make an impact in professional golf the way Ludvig Aberg did three years ago. Koivum’s win in just his third PGA Tour start seems even better.
It’s not that Koivun has suddenly hit a purple patch. The Californian has shown over the past three years as an Auburn University player that he is special. Unlike Scheffler, who hit a massive growth spurt during his college years (grew by more than a foot in less than two years) and struggled for a protracted period as his swing got out of whack, there were no such issues for Koivun.
{{/usCountry}}It’s not that Koivun has suddenly hit a purple patch. The Californian has shown over the past three years as an Auburn University player that he is special. Unlike Scheffler, who hit a massive growth spurt during his college years (grew by more than a foot in less than two years) and struggled for a protracted period as his swing got out of whack, there were no such issues for Koivun.
{{/usCountry}}He has been the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year for 2024, 2025 and 2026, and swept the big three awards in college golf – Ben Hogan Award (Best College Golfer of the Year), Haskins Award (Most Outstanding College Golfer of the Year) and the Jack Nicklaus Award (National Player of the Year) – in both 2024 and 2026.
Of course, he also reached the No1 position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and received the Mark H McCormack Medal in 2025.
Koivun has the game, but he also has the mental make-up of a champion. On each of his golf gloves, he writes three words – ‘confidence’, ‘trust’, and ‘dominate’ – and does his utmost to live up to them. His attacking ‘go-for-the-pin’ style of golf is winning him fans, and in his mind, he refuses to accept that other players can be better than him.
On Sunday, he teed off 50 minutes after Scheffler. And immediately became the target.
As Scheffler finished with a five-under par back nine, the murmur grew around Koivun.
“All throughout the crowd I kept hearing, ‘Scottie’s coming. Scottie’s coming,’” he said. “I just tried to tune that out and keep playing the golf I knew I could.”
He has the potential to become a generational player. The next Tiger Woods? Perhaps. Let’s wait and watch.
Another college star rises
While Koivun was the talk of the town last week, another college golfer, Tommy Morrison, won in just his fourth start on the Korn Ferry Tour. On Sunday, he shot an eight-under par 63 to win the Evans Scholars Invitational by three shots with a 29-under par aggregate.
Morrison finished No6 in the 2026 PGA Tour University Ranking after three and a half seasons at the University of Texas (2023-26) and recently earned his KFT membership for the remainder of the 2026 season.
Herbie goes bananas
It seemed to be the week of going low, and nobody did it better than Lucas Herbert at LIV Golf UK.
In May, the Australian won his first LIV Golf title in Virginia with a score of 24-under. He then stunned everyone with a major championship low round of 62 at the 154th Open Championship.
On Sunday, at JCB, he shot a 10-under 62, and coupled with his 11-under 61 on Thursday, Herbert raced to a 30-under par total – a LIV Golf record – and a six-shot win over Tyrrell Hatton.