Auburn’s Jackson Koivun holds off superstar Scottie Scheffler in a final-round showdown to earn first PGA Tour win
Koivun found himself Sunday in the 3M Open being chased down by the world's No. 1 golfer, one of the game's bona fide best — and he won.
Jackson Koivun has his first win on the PGA Tour. Everyone expected him to get it at some point or another.
But how it happened Sunday: No one may have been able to script that.
Finding himself in a back-nine duel at the 3M Open with none other than the world’s No. 1, Scottie Scheffler — a bona fide pro golf superstar — Koivun kept his cool, closed strong, and staved off one of the world’s best at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota.
Koivun with his first-place finish earned $1.584 million. With the win, Koivun also earns automatic qualification for the 2027 Masters Tournament.
Koivun finished at 25-under to win it by three strokes. He sank five birdies Sunday. He played bogey-free on both Saturday and Sunday, sinking a long par putt on No. 18 in the final round to finish his second-consecutive bogey-free round.
Shouts of “War Eagle” were heard from spectators on the CBS broadcast of Sunday’s final, after Koivun teed off or sank putts. He whipped his way around the course with an orange AU on his bag and with “WDE” on the notepad sticking out of his back pocket.
Scheffler finished at second place in 22-under, after making a strong Sunday surge to challenge Koivun.
Koivun led the tournament by three strokes at the end of Saturday’s third round. He shot a 28 on the back nine in the third round, a record for the course. Scheffler after the third round was in a four-way tie for ninth place, six strokes back from Koivun’s lead.
Scheffler charged up the leaderboard halfway through play Sunday by firing five birdies in a seven-hole stretch, on No. 6 and No. 8 then Nos. 10, 11 and 12. After Scheffler’s birdie on 11, Scheffler reached 19-under while Koivun led at 23-under. Koivun on No. 9 faced a long 14.5-foot putt for par, and bogeying the hole would’ve allowed Scheffler to cut the margin to two strokes with the birdie on No. 12.
But Koivun nailed the putt.
And it went the same way all the way down the back nine. No matter how much pressure Scheffler put on the pro rookie, Koivun withstood it. Koivun on No. 12 hit the sand trap off the tee — but played his way out of it and ultimately birdied the hole.
And Scheffler eventually cooled down. Moments before that, Scheffler blew a short birdie putt on No. 14. Koivun led at 24-under through 12 while Scheffler was at 20-under through 15. Scheffler cut the margin to as few as two strokes, but ran out of real estate.
And Koivun, a two-time national champion at Auburn, earned his first PGA Tour victory.
“Playing at Auburn was so much fun,” Koivun told the media after the third round. “We definitely were put in some stressful situations, national championships, and just in collegiate play. And (I’m) just trying to lean on those experiences to try to go out there and execute tomorrow.”
After Scheffler finished the tournament at 22-under, Koivun held a two-stroke lead at 24-under on No. 15, and just needed to hold onto that lead through the last few holes. He birdied on No. 16 to extend the lead to three strokes, hitting an excellent approach putt on the green from distance to set up an easy birdie putt within a few feet. Even after a short drive on No. 18, Koivun had set himself up so well that he was able to clinch it without major drama.
The tournament marked Koivun’s third since leaving Auburn and becoming a full-time professional. At the John Deere Classic concluding July 5, he missed the cut. A week later at the ISCO Championship, Koivun finished in a tie for 10th.
The 3M Open was not the PGA Tour’s most stacked event of the season: Major champions in the field included Hideki Matsuyama, Brian Harman and Gary Woodland. Top-15 players like Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Jon Rahm didn’t play in the event.
But Scheffler is a certified star in the sport, and ranked higher than all those players in the current world rankings. He’s won four majors and has held that No. 1 ranking in the world rankings since 2023.
Koivun at Auburn held the world’s No. 1 amateur record, and he was considered as sure-fire a pro prospect as there was in the sport. At Auburn, he was part of two national championship teams for the Tigers in 2024 and 2026. He finished his collegiate career after his junior season as one of the best in NCAA history, twice in his career sweeping the three major awards for most outstanding golfer, in the Haskins, the Hogan and the Nicklaus.
His career scoring average is an NCAA record, as is his best single-season scoring average.
So much fun watching that final round! What a great kid. Hope this is the beginning of a long and successful career!