{"id":863193,"date":"2026-09-28T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T05:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863193\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T05:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T05:30:10","slug":"jackson-koivun-has-already-arrived-but-in-presidents-cup-debut-he-showed-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863193\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackson Koivun has already arrived, but in Presidents Cup debut, he showed up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackson Koivun might\u2019ve already arrived, but as this week\u2019s only undefeated player, he undoubtedly showed up in his Presidents Cup debut.<\/p>\n

He was just a little late to the winners\u2019 press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s his bedtime!\u201d quipped Justin Thomas before the 21-year-old U.S. rookie slipped in and found his seat.<\/p>\n

Koivun\u2019s tardiness was easily forgiven as he\u2019d just wrapped up a 2-0-1 performance at Medinah Country Club with a 2-up victory over arguably the Internationals\u2019 biggest star, Si Woo Kim, in Sunday singles.<\/p>\n

It was the type of showing that U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker envisioned when he tabbed the budding superstar as one of his six captain\u2019s picks.<\/p>\n

In an unprecedented three seasons at Auburn, Koivun led the Tigers to two NCAA team titles, broke the NCAA record for career scoring average (68.89) and became the first player ever to sweep the three national player of the year awards twice. He turned professional two weeks after sharing low-amateur honors at the U.S. Open, and he won the 3M Open in just his third PGA Tour start as a pro.<\/p>\n

While some arguments were made that Koivun hadn\u2019t done enough as a pro to warrant a pick \u2013 he\u2019d tallied only one other top-10 finish in his five other pro starts \u2013 there was no questioning the talent and potential.<\/p>\n

Snedeker didn\u2019t just see Koivun\u2019s inclusion to the team as an investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a feeling about him,\u201d Snedeker said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it was, just being around him, talking to people, knowing what he accomplished, I felt like he was ready for the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koivun compiled a 20-7-1 record as an amateur between college competition, U.S. Amateurs and the 2025 Walker Cup, where he went 3-1 at Cypress Point. But he admitted none of that truly prepared him for the pressure he faced at Medinah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever shook on a golf course like I did on Thursday on the first tee,\u201d Koivun said. \u201cAt the same time, I couldn\u2019t stop smiling. I was really excited to be there, but I was nervous for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Thomas, Koivun\u2019s fourballs partner: \u201cI\u2019ll never in my life forget the smile he had on his face when he put the tee in the ground on Thursday morning and he was about to hit. I think he kind of blacked out and went to pick up the tee, didn\u2019t pick up the tee. It was just laying right there when I went to go put my tee in the ground. It\u2019s kind of cool to get to experience those moments with someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Presidents<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Fourteen years after Europe staged a miraculous Ryder Cup rally, the U.S. completed its own comeback at Medinah.<\/p>\n

Koivun had a few more nervy moments in that first match, including not factoring on the first hole after dumping his approach shot in a bunker and then hooking his drive on the second hole out of bounds. And yet, he and Thomas gutted out a half-point.<\/p>\n

By Sunday, Koivun was walking in clutch putts, mounting a spirited charge from 2 down through 10 holes, and punctuated his win by stuffing an 8-iron from 157 yards to 8 feet and celebrating with a club twirl eerily similar to the one Tiger Woods displayed at this very competition in 2009.<\/p>\n

Snedeker called it the shot of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put him in a big spot today, a really big spot,\u201d Snedeker said. \u201cThat was a massive match. If we were going to have any chance today, he had to win that match. The guys were cheering in the room last night when we made that decision to put him in that spot. The whole team went crazy because they knew they wanted the kid to go up against Si Woo, and he delivered today in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koivun was asked about his first team-event experience, and he answered like any kid would.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just exciting being able to call these guys my friends,\u201d Koivun said, \u201cand now when I go to tournaments it\u2019s not like, oh, there\u2019s so and so. It\u2019s like, I was on a team with them, and we won the Presidents Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expectation, of course, is that Koivun wins his country much more than this.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Number One: The Jackson Koivun story<\/p>\n

What makes Jackson Koivun one of the top prospects in recent memory? Brentley Romine takes an in-depth look at Koivun’s journey from a par-3 course in San Jose to world No. 1 amateur, and what’s next as he joins the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackson Koivun might\u2019ve already arrived, but as this week\u2019s only undefeated player, he undoubtedly showed up in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-863193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}