Scottie Scheffler has never seen Jackson Koivun swing in person. The World No. 1 has heard the hype about the star amateur who turned pro, but his first glimpse of Koivun will have to wait.
“I haven’t had a chance to see him hit a shot yet,” Scheffler said on Sunday at the 3M Open in Minnesota. “Obviously, I’ve heard about his pedigree in college, but I haven’t been able to see it in person yet. I’m looking forward to that.”
While Scheffler has yet to witness the 21-year-old budding star in person, he got a sense for his talent on Sunday when Koivun held him off to win the 3M Open and claim his first PGA Tour win in just his third start as a pro. Koivun started the day with a three-shot lead over a pack of challengers and led Scheffler by six. On a golf course that yields low scores, Scheffler knew he needed to hit the gas early to apply pressure and see if Koivun buckled in his first venture into the PGA Tour Sunday cauldron. Scheffler only made three birdies on his front nine before reeling off three straight circles from 10-12 to excite the TPC Twin Cities crowd and get within a couple.
But despite the best player in the world surging behind him, Koivun never wavered. He started the morning telling his father that he wished everyone would tamp down the hype surrounding him. He’s just playing golf. It was just another round. But then Koivun stuffed his opening approach to 17 inches for a tap-in birdie. He then rolled in an 11-footer for birdie at No. 4 and made another birdie at the sixth.
Scheffler made two more birdies coming in to shoot a final-round 63 and post 22 under, giving himself a chance should Koivun stumble down the stretch. But while Scheffler talked with the media and waited to see if golf’s next big thing could get it over the line, the other half of Team Scheffler had already seen enough of Koivun to know how the day would end.
After Koivun unleashed his tee shot on the drivable par-4 16th, caddie Ted Scott went to 3M Open executive director Hollis Cavner and said goodbye.
“Ted watched you hit on 16 in the locker room and left to go to the airport,” Cavner told Koivun after the tournament. “I go, ‘There’s a lot of golf left.’ He goes, ‘No, he’ll hang.’ That tells you that when the caddie of the No. 1 guy in the world heads to the airport and you’ve got two holes to play — over water, trouble everywhere — that shows you how much respect these guys have for you already.”
Scheffler hung around and watched as Koivun birdied the 16th, made an easy par at 17 and then rolled in a 14-footer for par on 18 to punctuate a win that announced his presence to the golfing world at large.
Scheffler remembered his first PGA Tour win, when he outlasted Patrick Cantlay in a three-hole playoff to win the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, and lauded Koivun for staying calm on a day that could’ve quickly become chaotic.
“My first win was in a playoff,” Scheffler said. “So to win for the first time with a big lead, probably a bit easier. But I think anytime you’re trying to win for the first time, it’s awfully difficult, especially for a young guy coming out of college. I think that shows not only how talented of a player he is, but I think the mental strength he has as well.”
With Ted Scott already headed home and Scheffler exiting after his first trip to the 3M, Koivun basked in the glow of a win that will only amplify the hype surrounding golf’s next big thing. Asked what he thinks his best trait is, Koivun, hours after Scheffler praised his mental game, pointed to the same weapon.
“My best trait? I would say my mentality,” Koivun said. “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.”
But if you really want to know how Jackson Koivun fended off Scottie Scheffer, all you had to do was listen to what Ted Scott said as he exited the premises: “He can hang.”
“That’s what we train for,” Koivun said. “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.”
And it feels like it won’t be the last time that’s the case for golf’s next big thing.
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