Half of me was curious George, a father of three kids about his age, and half wanted to loosen up a typically sanitized press conference. I asked Jackson Koivun, “Xbox or PlayStation when you need to clear your head and relax?”
“I don’t really play too many video games,” Koivun replied with a polite smile. “Maybe scroll on my phone a little bit, get away from everything, find a YouTube video I enjoy.”
“Scrolling on your phone does not get you away from everything,” I pushed back, then followed up: “So how do you actually find quiet to think about your game?”
“You know, off the golf course I try not to think about my game that much, because then I’ll just kind of spiral in what I can do better,” he said. “But, yeah, I don’t know. Just kind of sit, hang with friends, talk with my parents, my coach.”
I was probing for insight into what makes golf’s latest prodigy tick as he approached his professional debut at the John Deere Classic.
Three weeks after our time together at TPC Deere Run, that same 21-year-old—still as likely to scroll YouTube as to grind on a Trackman in his downtime—sat in the media center as a freshly minted PGA TOUR winner, having claimed his first big victory at the 3M Open.
Over four days at TPC Twin Cities, Koivun blended patience and precision, piling up birdies while avoiding the big numbers that shatter rookie aspirations. Koivun entered the final round with a three-shot lead, thanks to a 10-under par 61 performance on Saturday. The Wake Forest standout posted a 28 on his back nine in the third round, setting a tournament record and moving him to 20-under for the week.
A steady 6-under 65 on Sunday put Koivu at 25 under par for the week, good for a three-shot victory over World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. That winning score was also five shots better than those of another pair of major winners, Hideki Matsuyama and Brian Harman, along with Chandler Phillips and Denny McCarthy, who all finished tied for third at minus 20
What stood out in Minnesota was how familiar Koivan’s demeanor felt: the same unhurried walk, the same measured pre-shot routine, the same sense that he was never more than one deep breath away from resetting. The kid who said he’d rather hang with friends than obsess over swing positions now looked like a player whose balance off the course was becoming a weapon on it.
In less than a month, Koivun has turned a debut in the Quad Cities into a breakthrough victory at the 3M, earning a nearly $1.6 million winner’s payday.
For a young man who insists he doesn’t want to think too much about his game off the golf course, Koivun is already forcing his competition and the rest of us to think a lot more about him.
