Five weeks ago Jackson Koivun was still an amateur folk hero at Auburn. Now he's a PGA Tour champion who beat Scottie Scheffler down the stretch to do it. That sentence alone should tell you everything about how fast this kid's timeline is moving.
Saturday is where this got out of hand. Koivun caught fire on the back nine at TPC Twin Cities and posted a 28, a 3M Open back-nine scoring record, to grab a commanding lead heading into Sunday.
The back-nine 28 that blew the tournament open on Saturday.
Sunday was supposed to be the coronation. Instead Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, decided to make it a fight. He chipped in for eagle, birdied 18, and by the turn had clawed all the way back to within striking distance.
Scheffler's chip-in eagle that started the Sunday charge.
Koivun didn't blink. He answered with an eagle of his own to take the lead, then kept adding to it — birdie after birdie, the margin stretching to as many as 5 shots at one point in the round.
Koivun extending his lead to -24 with the field unable to answer.
Scheffler kept coming anyway, carding a Sunday 63 that cut Koivun's cushion to 2 shots with 3 to play — the kind of number that ends most rookies' days early. Koivun answered with another birdie to push it back to 3 with 2 to go, and this time it held up. He closed it out at -25 to win by 3, becoming the first player in the field to hang on against a Scheffler closing kick in recent memory.
Koivun holding on for the win as Scheffler's rally fell just short.
The backstory makes this even wilder. Koivun left Auburn as arguably the most decorated player in college golf history, winning six times in his final 13 collegiate starts and becoming the first golfer ever to sweep the Haskins, Hogan and Nicklaus awards twice. He skipped his senior season to turn pro this summer, and it took him exactly 3 starts to cash a PGA Tour trophy — as a betting longshot at +3700, no less.
Koivun's price on the board before he ran away with it.
There's a real argument this is the most impressive rookie debut golf has seen in years, and it came against the sport's current best player at his peak. The obvious question now is how fast the schedule can hand Koivun another shot at Scheffler, because if Sunday was any indication, that rivalry might be must-watch for a while.