July 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n9:25 a.m.: At this point, I think it\u2019s fair to ask the question on everyone\u2019s mind: Will Jackson Koivun ever miss another putt?<\/p>\n
He pipes his drive on 13, and regrettably, I have to step away for a moment to do a podcast with some Irish people who probably don\u2019t even care about Jackson Koivun. I\u2019ll do my best to spread the gospel, and be back by 10:15 at the latest. I expect him to be at least 9 under by then.<\/p>\n
10:05 a.m.: I\u2019m BACK, and I\u2019ll have you know that I was wrong\u2014the Irish are curious about Jackson Koivun too. Unfortunately, he\u2019s not quite nine under like I hoped and expected, but somehow Ben Griffin went from one under to four under, thanks to a QUAD on 14. I\u2019m so sad to have missed that.<\/p>\n
Now, while have a moment (Koivun has to scramble on 15 after chipping out from under a tree), let\u2019s ask an important question: what kind of name is \u201cKoivun,\u201d world-wise? I\u2019m trying to take a guess before I look it up, and the closest comp I can think of is the hockey player Saku Koivu, who I\u2019m pretty sure was Finnish. But \u201cKoivun\u201d is different enough from \u201cKoivu\u201d that I\u2019m going to zig where they expect me to zag, and say that it\u2019s \u2026 Hungarian.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see what Google says:<\/p>\n
The Koivun surname is a variation or Anglicized form of the Finnish surname Koivu, which translates to \u201cbirch.\u201d<\/p>\n
SON OF A\u2014<\/p>\n
10:15: Christina Kim says that Koivun looks \u201cdiscombobulated\u201d as he makes the first bogey of his professional career following an iffy chip.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, on the par-3 16th, not only do we have the first bunker of Koivun\u2019s career, but the first fried egg! Unfortunately, we do not have the first sand save, as he misses the eight-footer coming back, and based on the very little I know, I have to agree with Kim, and also with her contention that you gotta \u201cgiddy-up\u201d on this course.<\/p>\n
10:45: Sorry, while they played the par-5 I took the opportunity to watch roughly a dozen videos of the fans singing \u201cCountry Roads\u201d at the U.S. World Cup match Wednesday night. I\u2019m back just in time to see Koivun nicely scrambling on the par-5 to give himself a short-ish birdie look \u2026 and then missing.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s definitely just slightly off, which is a big \u201cwho cares?\u201d for me because I\u2019m just happy to be here.<\/p>\n
Random Koivun observation: He seems to have really long arms. I sometimes think that\u2019s a pre-requisite to being a great golfer. Name me one star with nubby little arms. You can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Another random Koivun observation: He looks a little like Neil from No Laying Up.<\/p>\n
10:55: Big news on ESPN+, we\u2019ve got an announcer change. Tom Werme and Dennis Paulson are in for Myan Patel and Christina Kim after just eight holes. Did the producers give them the hook, like a manager pulling the starting pitcher after three innings? They were doing fine! (This is obviously not why it happened.)<\/p>\n
To honor the new announcers, Spieth immediately hits the ball into the water and proceeds to excoriate himself for a good minute.<\/p>\n
We have a bit of a Murphy\u2019s Law of sportswriting happening here, which is that I picked today to highlight everything that makes Koivun great, and he\u2019s having a pretty bad round by his standards. It\u2019s no different on 18, where he pulls his driver into a bunker, hits his approach into a bunker, but then plays it beautifully from the sand.<\/p>\n
Paulson has an interesting take that even though players like Koivun aren\u2019t exactly worried about the money angle (he had a $2.5 million NIL valuation at Auburn his last season), it still represents a huge change and a pretty decent amount of pressure to actually turn pro and put everything on the line. All your years of potential are over, and now it\u2019s time to actualize it\u2026that can be daunting.<\/p>\n
As if on cue, he misses a four-footer for par. His first front nine as a pro is in the books as a 2 over 38. Hilariously, after reading and hearing about what a great putter he is, he\u2019s not 63rd of 64 players in SG: Putting right now.<\/p>\n
![\"2284346406\"\/](\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/6\/GettyImages-2284346406.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1783014722799.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Andy Lyons<\/p>\n
11:05: What I\u2019m looking for on the second nine\u2014how does he react to a nervy start?<\/p>\n
To figure it out, we\u2019ll have to wait as Spieth plays his second shot on no. 1 from a different galaxy, while his third brought this quote out of Dennis Paulson: \u201cThat might be the worst chip I\u2019ve ever seen Jordan Spieth hit.\u201d How does this man live inside his own world?<\/p>\n
Koivun meanwhile found the fairway and has given himself an 11-foot look for birdie. Spiritually, it feels like he needs this\u2026.buttttttt he doesn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
Random Koivun observation: the book in his back pocket is emblazoned with the letters \u201cWDE.\u201d What does that mean? I\u2019ll report back if I figure it out.<\/p>\n
11:25: Lucas Glover, who leads the tournament at 6 under right now, is 25 years older than Koivun. When he won his first PGA Tour event, the \u201cFunai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort,\u201d Koivun was six months old to the day.<\/p>\n
Random Koivun observation: The other sponsors on his clothing besides Titleist and Malbon are Delta (left collar), Old Republic (home warranty, left sleeve), Betterment (investment app, right collar), Omni (hotels, right sleeve).<\/p>\n
11:45: Clinical birdie from Koivun on the very easy par-5 second, and we are BACK, baby!<\/p>\n
On the next hole, he says \u201cah, man!\u201d about a shot that finds the green, albeit 36 feet away, and that\u2019s the most demonstrative he\u2019s been all day, and significantly more than the look of quiet disappointment after a B- lag on his birdie putt. But he cleans it up from five feet, and the bleeding is officially stopped.<\/p>\n
Also, checking back on the yardage book, Auburn fans will be mad at me, because WDE stands for \u201cWar Damn Eagle,\u201d which is their rally cry.<\/p>\n
12:05: In theory, watching a featured group (excuse me, marquee group) like this should be less stimulating and less fun than just watching an ordinary broadcast, but a lot of times I find the exact opposite to be true. It\u2019s just so weirdly peaceful to settle in with one group, especially on a weekday morning, that I prefer it. You cut out so much of the BS from the usual coverage. Nobody\u2019s trying too hard, it feels like there are fewer commercials, and you get little details you\u2019d miss with the rapid-cut style broadcast, like little side conversations between players. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n
Hey, Patel and Kim are back! They weren\u2019t fired or murdered, great news! Although I\u2019m worried about the endurance of these announcers, they\u2019re like hockey players at this point with their shift changes.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the news for Koivun just keeps getting worse as he rips his drive into the rough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am searching for some positives,\u201d says Kim as he notices his ball in an okay lie, and that basically sums up the experience of his debut so far. BUT! He makes another par.<\/p>\n
Random Koivun observation: Since we\u2019ve done every other part of his outfit, let\u2019s complete it by noting that he wears an Apple watch on his right wrist, and a black band (maybe medical?) and silver chain-style bracelet on his left. No word on what kind of underwear he uses.<\/p>\n
![\"2284332876\"\/](\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/6\/GettyImages-2284332876.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1783014320887.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Tyler Clouse<\/p>\n
12:15: \u201cHe has the benefit of watching Spieth,\u201d Kim says of Koivun\u2019s round, and I have to ask:<\/p>\n
Does he? Is it a benefit? <\/p>\n
I feel like spending too long around the Spieth golf circus could absolutely ruin a young man. I can see Koivun in the locker room post-round, shaking like a soldier who just saw his first action on the front line, and realizing he can\u2019t hack it in this world.<\/p>\n
On five, Koivun hits what is probably his best approach of the day from 167, leaving himself a 12-foot birdie putt, but he takes wayyyyyy too much break and misses again.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s something I keep thinking every time I hear about what a great putter he is\u2014of the four main elements of the game, between driving, irons, scrambling, and putting, putting is both the most variable and the least valuable. Yes, it\u2019s great to hit a bunch of long putts for birdie, but that doesn\u2019t happen consistently for anyone, and because it\u2019s such a volatile stat by individual, it also has the least relevance to success.<\/p>\n
Now, this is not some grand prognostication on Koivun\u2019s long-term viability as a pro, because all parts of his game are amazing. It\u2019s just a note to say that nobody can ride their putting alone to a great career, even great putters are going to have bad days, and it\u2019s a little over-emphasized.<\/p>\n
12:35: Speaking of parts of the game, it seems like he\u2019s been very rough off the tee. Even here, on the sixth hole and using an iron, he slings it left and barely avoids the bunker. The stats only kind of back me up\u2014he\u2019s 41st of 72 on SG: Off the Tee, and still really poor in putting (71 of 72).<\/p>\n
Okay, while we wait for the approach, a bit about his personality. The word on Koivun from people who know is that while he\u2019s a killer on the course (a trait he supposedly gets from his mom), and while he\u2019s ultra-competitive and, as we noted from Gregory earlier, likes to show off, he\u2019s also super quiet off the course and a little uncomfortable with the spotlight when he\u2019s off the course.<\/p>\n
Terrific approach on six despite some \u201cI hate this shot\u201d body language, and now we\u2019re speculating about how he\u2019s breathing and his general level of tension, and I will say that I kind of agree with the announcers that he has the look of somebody who is wound pretty tight, although that might just be how he looks rather than anything specific to today.<\/p>\n
He also looks incredibly young. Or just normal for someone who\u2019s 21, as opposed to someone like Scottie Scheffler who has looked 38 years old probably since he was 10. Regardless, he pours in the birdie, and he\u2019s back to even! Now all he has to do is birdie the next three holes, shoot a 61 tomorrow, and maybe he\u2019ll be in the top ten.<\/p>\n
12:55: I know TPC Deere Run takes a lot of flack among tour courses, but I love the way it looks. It\u2019s hard to explain because there are no breathtaking vistas or anything visually spectacular, but it has a tranquil, bucolic feel. Tremendous vibes, like your favorite spot in the woods to have a picnic. Brian Rolapp, please send me to play it.<\/p>\n
Koivun short-sides himself in the bunker on 7, but it turns out he\u2019s got plenty of room and plays a nifty little shot to inside four feet. In an interview in the tour video linked above, he talked about how he\u2019s trying to play smarter, more cautious golf now, but that his natural inclination is to be a risk-taker. We\u2019ve sort of seen the wild side today, especially off the tee, but we haven\u2019t quite seen the scrambling magic yet.<\/p>\n
Also, worth pointing out: Ben Griffin is now 2 under despite the early quad.<\/p>\n
I love how Koivun putts assertively, even on a day like today when his confidence has to be a little shaky. If he\u2019s three or four feet away, he\u2019s banging it home, consequences be damned.<\/p>\n
1:05: Best drive of the day on 8 for Koivun, a 304 carry right down the center, and while he\u2019s not considered a \u201clong\u201d hitter by modern tour standards, that shot proves he has plenty of length when he needs it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s starting to get nasty in Silvis, less because of the temperature and more because of the dew point, which is a gruesome 74 to go along with 90+ temps. It certainly pays to be in the morning wave today.<\/p>\n
Sadly, Koivun follows the great drive with what is easily his worst approach the day, flying the green by a mile and getting another fried egg in the sand for his trouble. He can\u2019t do much with it, and it\u2019s back to over par.<\/p>\n
1:15: And now, still showing very little much emotion beyond a slight flush in the face that we can easily attribute to the heat, Koivun comes to his final hole. His drive is good but once again his approach is poor, ending in yet another trap, and you can see a sign of his frustration in how he rips at his glove. It\u2019s subtle, but it\u2019s there. He leaves himself 11 feet for par out of the sand, once again reads too much break, and finishes with a bogey.<\/p>\n
So\u2026what are the final thoughts here? Well, this was about the worst-case scenario, based on his high standards, for how his debut could have gone (short of falling in the water or accidentally maiming Spieth with an errant iron). He was rocky off the tee, worse on approach, and very nearly the worst player in the field putting. And even so, he shot 73 and can try to fight for a made cut tomorrow. This will certainly not be the high point of his professional career, but that matters less than the fact that it has officially begun. Now we\u2019ll see how great he can become.<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n