Jackson Koivun wins 3M, is he the next great one?

Jackson Koivun rewrote history at the 2026 3M Open, delivering a masterclass in elite course management to secure a three-stroke victory over World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Competing in just his third start as a professional, the 21-year-old phenom carded a tournament-record 25-under par 259 at TPC Twin Cities. Standing 5-foot-10, the precision striker pocketed a $1,584,000 winner’s check and secured a direct path to the FedExCup playoffs. His dominant display leaves the sporting world asking a thrilling rhetorical question: Are we witnessing the definitive arrival of golf’s next great one?

The technical breakdown of the four days in Blaine, Minnesota highlights how Koivun’s strategic brilliance capitalized on Scheffler’s uncharacteristic early-week vulnerabilities.

Round 1 played under ideal scoring conditions, prompting players to attack accessible pin locations. Ben Kohles set the initial pace with an aggressive 9-under 62, utilizing precision iron play. Several players found early success over Arnold Palmer’s risk-reward layout, with John VanDerLaan and Emiliano Grillo quickly entering the mix.

Koivun opened his account with a highly disciplined, 7-under 64, neutralizing the course’s water hazards by playing to conservative green targets. Concurrently, Scottie Scheffler carded an opening 65. However, a subtle tee-to-green disconnect on his inward nine led to a late bogey, indicating early execution struggles that would compound the following day.

The second round will be remembered for extraordinary individual scoring bursts and a puzzling tactical collapse from the world’s top player. Michael Kim executed a near-flawless display of ball-striking, carding a historic 12-under par 59 to temporarily skyrocket up the leaderboard. Under normal circumstances, we would be talking a lot more about Michael Kim’s round since only fifteen sub-60 rounds have been recorded in the history of PGA Tour.

Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler mounted an early front-nine attack to reach 9-under for the tournament. His momentum evaporated on the inward half. Plagued by uncharacteristic block-fades off the tee and a sudden cold streak with the putter, Scheffler stumbled through a frustrating back-nine stretch to post a laboring 1-under 70. Koivun, displaying veteran mental composure, cruised through the afternoon with a steady 68 to stay perfectly positioned before the 36-hole cut.

Under shifting wind conditions and temperatures approaching 90 degrees, Round 3 became the turning point of the tournament. Koivun put together a masterful performance, systematically dismantling the back nine. He carded two back-nine eagles en route to a tournament-record back-nine score of 28.

His 10-under par 61 vaulted him into a three-shot lead at 20-under par. Koivun’s statistical profile for the round revealed a field-leading Strokes Gained: Approach metric. Scheffler also began his weekend charge with an efficient 64, but his accumulated back-nine mistakes from the first two rounds left him starting the final day a distant six shots behind the young leader.

The final round turned into a high-stakes duel. Playing ahead of the final pairing, Scottie Scheffler mounted a furious charge, carding an 8-under par 63. The raucous Minnesota crowd continuously echoed warnings of “Scottie’s coming” across the property.

Faced with intense pressure and a 97-degree afternoon, Koivun displayed exceptional composure. He played a safe, mistake-free style, hitting 21 consecutive greens in regulation stretching back to Saturday. The critical moment arrived on the par-4 9th hole, where Koivun holed a clutch par-saving putt to retain momentum. He closed out the event with a flawless, bogey-free 65 to seal a historic victory.

For Scheffler, the week resulted in his fifth runner-up finish of the 2026 season. This repeated bridesmaid finish solidifies a frustrating seasonal trend where his peerless ball-striking is periodically neutralized by an ice-cold putter.

Koivun’s rapid rise is the culmination of a life dedicated to the sport. He has been playing golf for roughly 15 years, having picked up the game as a young child under the guidance of his father, George. Proving his precocious talent early on, Koivun first defeated his father in a full round of golf when he was just seven years old. He honed his game on the 9-hole par-3 course at Santa Teresa Golf Club, near San Jose, Californiabefore developing into the nation’s number-one junior recruit.

Koivun’s immediate poise on the PGA Tour is a direct extension of his unprecedented collegiate pedigree. Competing for the Auburn Tigers Men’s Golf program, Koivun orchestrated what is statistically the most dominant amateur resume in decades. He anchored Auburn to two NCAA national titles (2024, 2026) and shattered the NCAA record for single-season scoring average at 68.20.

Koivun stands alone in collegiate golf history as the only player to complete a career sweep of all three major national player of the year awards multiple times, once in 2024 and again in 2026. The Ben Hogan Award recognizes the top collegiate golfer based on all amateur and professional events over a 12-month period,  Fred Haskins Award-the “Heisman of Golf-voted on by players, coaches, and golf media to honor the most outstanding collegiate player, Jack Nicklaus Award,  awarded directly by the Golf Coaches Association of America to the national player of the year across all NCAA divisions.

Since 1990—when all three awards co-existed—only a small, elite group of golfers have managed to clean house and claim all three trophies in the exact same season: Hunter Mahan (Oklahoma State) – 2003, Ryan Moore (UNLV) – 2004, Bill Haas (Wake Forest) – 2005, Patrick Rodgers (Stanford) – 2014

Sahith Theegala (Pepperdine) – 2020.

Elite amateur golf usually features a revolving door of winners because players struggle to maintain peak performance across different course styles. Koivun swept these awards twice due to an extraordinary mathematical lack of variance in his game. Unlike volatile bomb-and-gouge players, Koivun relies on elite iron accuracy and an incredibly repeatable swing tempo that functions under maximum pressure. In his college career, he recorded a school-record 11 individual victories, avoiding the performance valleys that afflict amateur golfers and allowing him to dominate distinct voting bodies simultaneously.

To truly comprehend Koivun’s trajectory, his historical metrics must be viewed alongside those of Tiger Woods during his amateur prime:

While Woods faced distinct equipment eras and setups, Koivun’s mathematical dominance over his contemporaries exceeds the scoring margins Woods managed during his collegiate tenure. By hoisting a PGA Tour trophy just 24 days after turning professional, Koivun has accelerated past the traditional learning curve of modern professional golf.

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RADU ROMAN
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