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Don\u2019t worry, Koivun won plenty. He still holds the par-3 record, an 8-under 19 \u2013 the scorecard is framed inside the clubhouse \u2013 and recorded holes-in-one on six different holes. Eventually, Koivun outgrew Santa Teresa and joined nearby Cinnabar Hills, where he met longtime pro Fred Garcia. During one of their first lessons, Garcia asked a 12-year-old Koivun, whom he calls, \u201cChamp,\u201d what he wanted to be when he grew up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be on the PGA Tour,\u201d Koivun answered confidently, already dressed the part.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you just never doubted him,\u201d Garcia says. \u201cEven back then, he was the hardest-working kid. He just practiced and practiced, and he never got tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The signs of greatness have long been there. As a 10-year-old, Koivun took the initiative to handwrite a full-page letter to Titleist, not just asking for free clubs and balls but inquiring about what he needed to do to earn them. He wouldn\u2019t leave Cinnabar until he holed 100 putts from 4 feet, even if it meant missing dinner. When Meghan took him to Dothan, Alabama, for the 2019 Future Masters, one of his first big tournaments, and television cameras and nearly two dozen college coaches showed up down the stretch, Koivun rattled off a few birdies to capture the 13-14 age division.<\/p>\n
Koivun wasn\u2019t just the only kid from California in his field, he was the only kid from California wearing an Auburn sweatshirt, which he begged his parents to buy for him during a spontaneous visit to Auburn\u2019s campus after the previous year\u2019s Future Masters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why, but I just really wanted that sweatshirt,\u201d Koivun said \u201cIt\u2019s almost like fate.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n When Chris Williams, a former top-ranked amateur during his days at Washington, was hired as Auburn\u2019s assistant in June 2021, his first recruiting trip was to fly to San Jose to watch Koivun compete in an AJGA event.<\/p>\n \u201cI show up and there\u2019s this little, scrawny kid with a pushcart,\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cHe\u2019s wearing navy shorts and an orange shirt, and I thought, \u2018Well, this is a good start.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Koivun was fresh off what easily remains the most embarrassing and pivotal tournament of his young career. He shot 79-80 to tie for 145th at the 2021 Western Junior. Not only did he discard No. 4 balls after that, but he felt a switch flip internally. He never wanted to feel that lost again. With Williams looking on, Koivun placed second, then two weeks later won the Northern California Junior. Soon enough, he was highly regarded as the best player in the Class of 2023.<\/p>\n Koivun\u2019s visit to Auburn lasted over eight hours. Meghan remembers everyone sitting in Auburn head coach Nick Clinard\u2019s office; Clinard was making his pitch and Jackson was sitting there quietly, soaking it all in. When they finally got back in the car, Jackson spoke up: \u201cMom, Dad, I don\u2019t want to leave. I want to start working right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Clinard was predicting to Williams that Koivun, still with a few schools left to visit, was going to commit before even stepping foot on those campuses.<\/p>\n \u201cSure enough,\u201d Williams said, \u201can hour later, Jackson calls, and he\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m canceling my visits. I want to come to Auburn.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n IF ANYONE CAN RECOGNIZE HARD work, it\u2019s Clinard. Clinard\u2019s father, Mike, grew up in rural North Carolina, so poor that during the summer months, he and his brother would sleep on the tile floor in the kitchen next to the refrigerator because the house didn\u2019t have air conditioning. There was no indoor bathroom, either, and yet Mike Clinard put himself through dental and pharmacy school. Nick, a struggling pro golfer, took his first coaching job at UCF in 2002, jumping at the offer of $30,000 per year with no benefits and the understanding that his first raise would likely be his next job. Now, he\u2019s one of the highest-paid golf coaches in the country with two NCAA Championships under his belt.<\/p>\n Koivun\u2019s work ethic, however, is unlike anything Clinard has witnessed from a college player.<\/p>\n \u201cHis definition of a day off is like putting for an hour and a half,\u201d Clinard said. \u201cI call it an achiever-type mindset, that internal drive to be great, to be elite in this game. And he\u2019s not satisfied unless he\u2019s the best.\u201d<\/p>\n Upon arriving on the Plains, all the much-ballyhooed freshman cared about was making the Tigers\u2019 starting lineup, no easy feat considering the talent already there \u2013 J.M. Butler, Brendan Valdes, Carson Bacha. Despite dealing with several illnesses, including a bout with mono, Koivun didn\u2019t just qualify for every tournament; he finished sixth or better in 12 of 13 starts with two wins, including his first of what would be three straight SEC individual crowns, helping Auburn to its first NCAA Championship and sweeping every individual award possible \u2013 Haskins, Hogan, Nicklaus and Mickelson.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was so sick multiple times freshman year, I was worried sick about him,\u201d Meghan Koivun said. \u201cBut he just kept grinding through. The team pushed him so hard, and in a good way. \u2026 We always knew that once he went to the place that he wanted to be and could have everything at his disposal, he would take off.\u201d<\/p>\n Added Koivun: \u201cI worked my ass off to get into that lineup. \u2026 I was a little psychotic.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA – MAY 28: Jackson Koivun of the Auburn Tigers celebrates with a teammate after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in the semifinals during the Division I Men\u2019s Golf Championship held at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on May 28, 2024 in Carlsbad, California. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n NCAA Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n Josiah Gilbert, Koivun\u2019s fellow junior, paints the picture perfectly, sharing a story from their freshman year. The team had gotten back late after winning the SEC Championship, and Gilbert planned to take a few days off, but he needed to drop by the facility to pick up a pair of shoes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like 8 a.m., and I look in the middle bay and Jackson is hitting balls,\u201d Gilbert said. \u201cNot 12 hours removed from winning an SEC Championship, and he was back at it. \u2026 I stayed and practiced that day after seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for Garcia to wake up at 5 a.m. to a few swing videos from Koivun asking, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d Garcia will then FaceTime his star student, who is two hours ahead and already on the range, and they\u2019ll talk through what Koivun needs to work on. Garcia will usually receive a few more videos that evening, Koivun still swinging in the dark, searching for perfection.<\/p>\n Even after last month\u2019s NCAA Athens Regional, where Koivun battled through a stomach virus to tie for 10th, he was so frustrated with his putting that he picked himself up some chicken tenders upon arriving back in Auburn that night and by 9:30 p.m. he was on the practice green, rolling putts with assistance from his cellphone flashlight.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that adds up,\u201d George Koivun says. \u201cIf you\u2019re a golfer, and you want to become very good, you know, that total immersion, it will get you there.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n AS KOIVUN LOUNGES ON A leather sectional and scrolls through his phone in the adjacent room, Williams sits in an interview chair, within earshot, as a camera rolls.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does he do better than his peers?\u201d this interviewer asks.<\/p>\n Williams responds, \u201cHow long you got?\u201d<\/p>\n Competitiveness? Williams likens Koivun to one of his contemporaries, Justin Thomas \u2013 just a quieter version. \u201cIf we\u2019re fishing, he wants to catch a bigger fish than you,\u201d Gilbert adds.<\/p>\n Mindset? \u201cHe\u2019s the most positive, optimistic person I\u2019ve ever coached,\u201d Clinard says. \u201cHe really expects good things to happen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Ball-striking? Koivun is elite with the long clubs and has gained about 8 mph of ball speed (now into the 180s) since graduating high school, making him plenty long for the next level. \u201cHis dispersion is second to none, like he does not hit bad shots,\u201d Gilbert says. \u201cAnd he picks some of the safest targets out of anyone out there, and I think that shows just an incredible amount of discipline for someone who hits the ball that good.\u201d Koivun has also dialed in his wedge game to where he\u2019s plus or minus 2 yards from 140 yards and in, not an easy feat for someone who swings with as quick of a tempo as Koivun.<\/p>\n Even Koivun\u2019s chipping, by far his biggest weakness, has improved under Gregory\u2019s guidance. \u201cAnd we haven\u2019t even scratched the surface on being able to work week in and week out,\u201d Gregory adds.<\/p>\n But Koivun\u2019s greatest weapon is his putter. Though a constant tinkerer \u2013 Koivun switched wands midway through last month\u2019s NCAA Championship \u2013 Koivun is unmatched on the greens. Buddy Alexander, the longtime skipper at Florida who now spends time around the Auburn program, coached Brian Gay, who from 2004 to 2013 never ranked outside the top 25 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting.<\/p>\n \u201cJackson\u2019s the best putter I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cHis stroke is pretty much perfect. It kind of reminds me of some guy named Tiger Woods a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexander echoes Gregory\u2019s assertion that Koivun has few equals in the college and amateur game, putting him alongside Woods, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson and Scott Verplank.<\/p>\n Perhaps Koivun\u2019s only kryptonite? Asked if Koivun ever gets nervous, Koivun\u2019s roommate Cayden Pope wastes no time in humbling Auburn\u2019s all-everything.<\/p>\n \u201cJust around girls,\u201d Pope says, cracking a smile.<\/p>\n BEFORE COMPETING IN LAST YEAR\u2019S U.S. Amateur and Walker Cup, both held about an hour from San Jose, Koivun dropped by Cinnabar in early August for a tune-up with Garcia.<\/p>\n \u201cHe walks in, and I was just like, \u2018Wow,\u2019\u201d Garcia said. \u201cHe\u2019s always had that swagger, that winner\u2019s walk, but this was different. He had this different aura about him, like I\u2019m a Tour player.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier that summer, Koivun locked up his PGA Tour card with a T-4 finish at the NCAA Championship, which secured his 20th and final point. For Koivun, it was a giant weight lifted off his shoulders as Tour officials handed him his slate of hand-forged copper, though strangely enough, he couldn\u2019t exhale completely.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had been working toward that for a long time,\u201d George Koivun said, \u201cbut now the question was, when was it going to be triggered.\u201d<\/p>\n Koivun wasted little time in committing to returning to Auburn for his junior year, then shined in the big leagues \u2013 T-11, John Deere; T-6, Isco; T-5, Wyndham; T-4, Procore. On the eve of the latter in Napa, California, Koivun told Gregory on the practice green that his goal was to beat eight of the 10 U.S. Ryder Cuppers in the field. Gregory then challenged Koivun, reminding him that such a goal meant that he couldn\u2019t finish better than third. Koivun agreed, then went out, played his way into the final group on Sunday and only finished behind winner Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n \u201cI think learning and confidence for me go hand in hand,\u201d Koivun said that week. \u201cThe more I learn, the more confident I get.\u201d<\/p>\n But upon settling back at Auburn ahead of the fall semester, Koivun wasn\u2019t feeling nearly as assured. He loves college, his teammates, coaches, but that joy that he usually exuded, both in practice and on the course, had waned slightly. His results suffered \u2013 relatively, of course \u2013 as he finished T-17, T-10 and T-5 in three fall starts.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he was questioning why he went back,\u201d Meghan Koivun said. \u201cHe had great success at Procore and in the Wyndham and, I mean, he just felt he was right at home in all those places. \u2026 And then to go back to carrying your bag, walking 36 holes, box of lunches and all that, it was a little bit of a letdown.\u201d<\/p>\n Deep down, Koivun had already made his mind up that this would be his final season with the Tigers; he just hadn\u2019t vocalized it yet. That changed in early November, when he huddled his parents, Garcia, Clinard, Williams and agent Lance Young of Excel.<\/p>\n \u201cI had this decision of whether I want to stay or turn pro weighing on me, and I\u2019m thinking about that when I\u2019m trying to compete in tournaments, and it just wasn\u2019t a healthy mindset,\u201d Koivun said. \u201cOnce I was like, OK, this is what I\u2019m doing, I have 10 more tournaments in college, I\u2019m gonna go try to win all 10 of them, that just kind of flipped the switch in me.\u201d<\/p>\n Clinard recalls Koivun telling him at the start of the spring, \u201cYou will see a different me, and I\u2019m ready to dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"unnamed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781282351_656_.jpeg\")
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