{"id":824017,"date":"2026-07-26T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/824017\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T01:41:13","slug":"pga-tour-rookie-dominant-to-end-third-round-in-blaine-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/824017\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour rookie dominant to end third round in Blaine \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Photo: AP PHOTO] Jackson Koivun is in great form at the 3M Open golf tournament and leads going into the last round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PGA Tour rookie Jackson Koivun has produced a brilliant end to his third round to lead the 3M Open in Blaine by three shots.<\/p>\n

PGA Tour newcomer Jackson Koivun looked like he was all business but it came with an incredibly fun third round in the 3M Open in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Koivun fired a 10-under-par 61 on the way to taking the lead at Blaine on Saturday (Sunday AEST).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt \u200cfelt great,\u201d Koivun said. \u201cIt\u2019s what you work for. I definitely felt some nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koivun, in his just third tournament as a professional, moved to 20-under 193 and \u200cholds a three-shot lead on Ben Kohles and Argentina\u2019s Emiliano Grillo going to Sunday\u2019s (Monday AEST) final round at TPC Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

Koivun, who announced last month that he \u200cwould forgo his senior collegiate season at Auburn to turn pro, finished on a tear with two eagles on the backside that allowed him to play the final 10 holes in 9-under.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That contributed to a tournament-record 28 on the backside, rolling in a 14-foot eagle putt on the last hole.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a good break on (No.9) and kind of hit the ground running with that,\u201d Koivun said.<\/p>\n

Koivun was dialled in from the fairway on the final \u200chole, with his approach shot \u200con the mark \u2060to set up his final eagle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a pretty good number (into the green),\u201d Koivun said.<\/p>\n

Koivun\u2019s bogey-free \u200bround included an eagle 3 on No.12.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[Photo: AP PHOTO] Emiliano Grillo is three shots back and in equal second. <\/p>\n

Grillo and Kohles also were without bogeys on the way to posting 65s.<\/p>\n

Grillo eagled No.18 shortly after Koivun accomplished that. Kohles, the first-round leader, had three birdies on both sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my highlight of the day there on 18,\u201d Grillo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hit it well, playing from the fairway like I wanted to out here and then gave myself a lot of opportunities, couldn\u2019t take advantage of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koivun said he \u2060knows there\u2019s a huge test ahead as he aims for his first professional \u200cvictory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure some \u200bof the pins will be tucked and we\u2019ve got a lot of great players behind me, but just going to stick to my game \u200bplan and try \u200cto smile,\u201d Koivun said.<\/p>\n

Michael Brennan (63) and Chandler Phillips (66) are tied for fourth place at 16 under.<\/p>\n

No Australians made the cut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: AP PHOTO] Jackson Koivun is in great form at the 3M Open golf tournament and leads going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[393114,64,63,755,206799,1747,85],"class_list":["post-824017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-3m-open","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-jackson-koivun","tag-pga-tour","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}