Well, that didn’t take long.
Having skipped the preordination part of the proceedings, 21-year-old Jackson Koivun gave golf’s seasoned soothsayers the validation they felt was coming when he won the 3M Open near Minneapolis on Sunday with a performance that had everything but trumpets blaring.
The only surprise, if there is one, is the timing. It was just the third start of Koivun’s professional career and 13th career PGA Tour start, which fast-tracks his timeline and predictions that he is the game’s next big thing.
It took Tiger Woods five pro starts to win for the first time, Rory McIlroy did it in his 37th pro start and Scottie Scheffler needed 66 PGA Tour starts as a pro to win for the first time.
Koivun seemed to snap his fingers and it happened.
By lunchtime Monday, Koivun had been practically and perhaps prematurely fitted for his Presidents Cup uniform for the matches at Medinah in September.
If it all seems a little fast, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.
Koivun has been like a plane on final approach in the night sky, the landing lights visible from a long way until suddenly the jet has touched down. We’ve seen him coming for a while now.
The only college player to sweep the player-of-the-year awards (Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus) twice. A member of two national championship teams at Auburn.
As a sophomore, he earned his tour card through the PGA Tour University Accelerated program but he chose to return to school for his junior year. He went on to post six wins in 13 starts in his junior season with a dozen top-10 finishes.
And now this.
“I feel like we’re seeing a lot of really, really good young talent in the game today. When you see the guys come out of college, they’re really, really prepared, even more prepared than we were coming out years ago.” – Scottie Scheffler
“It’s crazy how fast time flies,” Koivun said Sunday after being reminded he was still playing college golf less than two months before his first tour win.
The game is cluttered with stories of unfulfilled potential. Ty Tryon was going to be that guy. Seven years ago, Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open over Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau and it was arguably the high point of a career gone flat. Luke Clanton is still chasing the expectations attached to him.
Four players who were good enough to earn tour status via PGA Tour University – Clanton, Ben James, Gordon Sargent and David Ford – all sit outside the top 120 in the FedEx Cup standings this week (though James has made just six professional starts).
Those are mentioned merely as reminders that sure things aren’t always that but Koivun has the look of the genuine and enduring article.
“I feel like we’re seeing a lot of really, really good young talent in the game today. When you see the guys come out of college, they’re really, really prepared, even more prepared than we were coming out years ago,” said Scheffler, who finished second to Koivun in Minnesota.
Koivun isn’t the longest and strongest but appears to have the essentials covered.
He’s long enough as the 305-yard 3-wood shot to set up an eagle on the par-5 12th hole on Saturday demonstrated. He has an excellent short game that is improving. He’s the guy you might take in a putting contest against almost anyone.
Then there is the ultimate intangible.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better over the past couple years of being able to beat guys with my mentality. Sometimes I watch guys hit on the range and I don’t feel like I’m the most talented out there, but if I can go out there and believe and use my brain to my advantage, then that’s definitely kind of like a superpower,” Koivun said.
Starting the final round Sunday with a three-stroke lead, Koivun understood he needed to keep moving forward and he played his closing 18 holes without a bogey even as Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, was stalking him.
“Sometimes I watch guys hit on the range and I don’t feel like I’m the most talented out there, but if I can go out there and believe and use my brain to my advantage, then that’s definitely kind of like a superpower.” – Jackson Koivun
When he needed stability, Koivun holed mid-range par putts on the ninth and 14th holes, willing himself past his nerves.
“I think the putt on 9 might be the biggest putt I made all week. Scoreboard was right there and I saw exactly how I stood. If I missed that, then I only had a two-shot lead where last time I checked I had a five-shot lead. So making that was huge for my momentum,” Koivun said.
Here’s another insight into Koivun: Speaking on SiriusXM Monday, Josh Gregory, Koivun’s short-game coach, told a story of the two of them at the Procore Championship last September where Koivun was in a field that included 10 members of the upcoming Ryder Cup team.
When Koivun told Gregory his goal was to beat eight of the 10 American Ryder Cup players, his coach said “that means the best you can finish is third.”
Koivun got the message – and beat nine of the 10 Ryder Cup players, all except Scheffler, on the way to a T4 finish.
When Scheffler shot 15-under-par 127 on the weekend at TPC Twin Cities, Koivun matched him with three words written on his glove.
Trust. Confidence. Dominate.
That brings another three words to mind.
On. His. Way.