Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Koivun Claims First Win

Of all the great amateur golfers to have turned pro over the past 15 or so years, Jackson Koivun might be the best.

That's right, better than, oh, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, to name a few.

There was evidence to suggest he was the best of them all. And now, there's even more evidence. Four more days' worth, to be precise.

The 21-year-old former Auburn all-American fended off, of all players, Scottie Scheffler over the final 18 holes at TPC Twin Cities to win the 3M Open in just his third professional tournament.

Koivun shot a lights-out 10-under 61 on Saturday to seize control of the tournament. But playing on Sunday in the final group of a PGA Tour event while the world No. 1 was breathing down your neck with a closing 63 is another matter entirely. Koivun shot a stellar 66 to stay comfortably ahead all day and win by three over Scheffler.

"All throughout the crowd I kept hearing, 'Scottie's coming, Scottie's coming.' I just tried to tone that out and keep playing the golf I knew I could. Was able to find some good putts coming down the stretch."

That was Koivun talking on CBS to Amanda Ballionis, and at the end of the interview he called her "ma'am." (He really did.)

Koivun's final amateur start was a tie for 23rd last month at the U.S. Open. He then turned pro, missed the cut at the John Deere Classic, tied for 10th at the opposite-field ISCO Championship and now this. The victory moved him to 70th in the FedExCup Standings -- the exact cutoff to make the playoffs -- so he plans to play this week at the Rocket Classic and the following week at the regular-season-ending Wyndham Championship.

Koivun arrived at Auburn in 2024 and was the SEC Player of the Year all three of his seasons with the Tigers. He was the NCAA men's Division I runner-up as a freshman and became the first golfer to sweep all four major college golf awards. He won three of them again in 2026, and the only reason he didn't win all four again was because one of them, the Phil Mickelson Award, goes to the top freshman in the nation.

Koivun reached No. 1 in the world amateur rankings in 2025 and stayed there for 57 weeks -- until he turned pro. He could've turned pro a year earlier, after his sophomore season, and gotten instant PGA Tour membership then, but decided to come back for one more go-around with the Tigers. They won the national title, as they also did with Kovin in 2024.

Data Golf ranks Koivun as the best amateur golfer since 2010, ahead of all those bold-faced names mentioned above, plus many more.

Kovin played seven events on the PGA Tour. He made six cuts. There was a T11 at the Deere, a T6 at the ISCO, a T5 at the Wyndham and a T4 at the Procore. If you think those are lesser events, please reconsider. Scheffler and almost all the U.S. Ryder Cuppers were in the Procore field preparing to face Europe.

Scheffler, naturally, was asked about Koivun on Sunday. He said they haven't talked yet and he hasn't even seen him hit a shot. But just in general, "I feel like we're seeing a lot of really, really good young talent in the game today. When you see the guys come out of college, they're really, really prepared, even more prepared than we were coming out years ago."

For the record, Koivun ranked 16th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, first in Approach, 51st in Around-the-Green and third in Putting. It may surprise some that the San Jose, Calif., native ranked only 55th in driving distance, averaging only 293 yards off the tee. No matter, he birdied the first hole on Sunday playing alongside veteran Emiliano Grillo and was never in any risk whatsoever of giving up the lead.

Scheffler was also asked about that, about holding the lead and never letting go.

"I guess the best way I can say it, my first win was in a playoff," Scheffler said. "So to win for the first time with a big lead, probably a bit easier. But I think anytime you're trying to win for the first time, it's awfully difficult, especially for a young guy coming out of college. I think that shows not only how talented of a player he is, but I think the mental strength he has as well." 

Koivun didn't exactly disagree.

"My best trait? I would say my mentality," he said. "I feel like I've gotten a lot better over the past couple years of being able to beat guys with my mentality. Sometimes I watch guys hit on the range and I don't feel like I'm the most talented out there, but if I can go out there and believe and use my brain to my advantage, then that's definitely kind of like a superpower."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler has now finished runner-up even more than the 1990s Buffalo Bills (rim shot!). He's up to five this season, they had four in row. It's hard to fault a guy shooting 22-under. Scheffler now has three more chances to win a second tournament in 2026: the three playoff events beginning in three weeks.

Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama was part of a four-way tie for third, giving him his first top-10 in five months. In a season with many good finishes -- 10 top-25s in 18 starts without missing a cut – he has done enough to climb into the top 30 of the FedExCup Standings. Matsuyama curiously is also in the field for this week's Rocket Classic, which means he could play six times in seven weeks if he would reach the TOUR Championship. 

Brian Harman
Harman tied for third to finally climb into the top-70 in the standings, at No. 62. That likely is enough to get him into to the playoffs. He's not playing the Rocket Classic, but he could be back for the regular-season-ending Wyndham in two weeks.

Denny McCarthy
It's hard to believe, but with a tie for third, McCarthy notched his first top-10 since the 2025 PGA Championship roughly 14 months ago. He had fallen outside the top-100 OWGR. One of the game's elite putters, McCarthy was not as elite as he had been, ranking 23rd on Tour in SG: Putting entering the week. He found something at TPC Twin Cities, leading the field and gaining almost 7.5 strokes on the greens.

Chandler Phillips
One of the better putters on Tour, Phillips ranked sixth for the week and gained almost six strokes to be a part of that four-way tie for third. It also moved him to 86th in the standings, meaning he still has some work to do over the next two weeks.

Davis Thompson
In tying for seventh, this was Thompson's third top-10 of the season. But the first one came in an opposite-field event and the second came in the Zurich Classic. So that tells you what type of season it's been for him. He's really sound across the board – if you remove putting from the board. Thompson is ranked 138th in SG: Putting, which is not gonna get the job done. But the good week overall moved him to 93rd in the standings.

Emiliano Grillo
Grillo loves himself some Twin Cities. He plays well in this tournament every year and did so again with his fourth top-10 in the event. But a tie for seventh had to be a letdown after playing Sunday in the final group with Koivun and never mounting any sort of challenge. While Grillo has now made six cuts in a row, three of them top-25s, he got off to such a poor start to the season that he is still outside the top-100 in points.

Ben Kohles
Kohles, technically a member of the Korn Ferry Tour this season, is having a great stretch on the PGA Tour. He followed up a tie for third at the John Deere and a T15 at the ISCO opp event with a solo ninth at the 3M. He's now 97th in points in just 10 starts, with an 11th coming this week at the Rocket Classic.

Gary Woodland
Woodland has had some excellent weeks and some clunkers ever since winning the Houston Open. This was a good one. His T10 was his fifth top-10 and seventh top-25 of the season and it moved him inside the top 30 in the standings.

Michael Kim
Shooting the 15th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history, a 12-under 59 on Friday, seemed so long ago by the time the tournament wrapped up on Sunday night. Because Kim, the leader by three at 14-under after 36 holes, shot 70-69 on the weekend for a disappointing tie for 10th. It was his second top-10 all season and followed three straight missed cuts, two of them in the U.K. But he's now 61st in points, seemingly safe into the first playoff event.

Jake Knapp
Knapp got off to a fantastic start to the season. But he got injured in April, missed two months and then struggled upon coming back -- until Sunday. He shot a 9-under 62 to zoom up the leaderboard into a tie for 13th. After spending much of the season well  inside the top-30 in points, then falling out, this good week moved him up to 38th.

Davis Chatfield
Pretty sure this is the first time with typed this name this season. Chatfield was among the 20 Korn Ferry grads to reach the PGA Tour. It's been a rough season with only 8 of 18 cuts made. But he tied for 16th at the 3M, his fourth straight made cut, which also included his lone top-10, a T5 at the ISCO.

Tom Kim
Kim rebounded from a missed cut at the Open Championship with a tie for 20th. He shot 67-66 on the weekend.

 John Parry
The veteran Englishman has had a solid rookie season on the PGA Tour. He's made 16 of 19 cuts with six top-25s, including a T24 this week. Unfortunately for him, he stands only 85th in points. Parry still needs at least one and probably two good weeks to reach the playoffs.

Jordan Smith
Smith is another veteran from England, but he is faring a bit better than his countryman. Even though he only tied for 39th at the 3M, Smith sits 67th in points. Right now that is inside the 70-man-playoff threshold. But Smith is far from secure. Barring a great finish at the Rocket Classic, he'll probably also play the Wyndham in two weeks.

MISSED CUTS

Max Homa,  Aaron Wise, Luke Clanton, Gordon Sargent, Preston Stout, Ben James. There weren't a lot of big-name MCs this week. Homa, for one, especially since he had been showing such improvement of late. … Wise had a mini-run of three straight cashes going, but his return from mental health issues will not be an arrow pointing straight up. … As for the other four guys, they have all been, to some degree, contemporaries of Koivun. Clanton and Sargent are struggling mightily on Tour. Stout is still an amateur. James is just starting out his pro career.

For up-to-the-minute updates on injuries, tournament participation and overall golfer performance, head to RotoWire's latest golf news or follow @RotoWireGolf on X.