Stacked on the top shelf of Jackson Koivun’s locker at Auburn’s Jack Key Facility are several boxes of Titleist golf balls, each missing only a sleeve of Nos. 1. The superstition dates to his junior days, when Koivun once gamed a No. 4 and played so poorly that he vowed to never hit such a numbered ball again. The habit gets annoying, sure, with just three Nos. 1 per dozen, but Koivun won’t tee off in a tournament with anything else.
“Luckily,” Koivun says, “I don’t change golf balls that often.”
Not every decision has been as clear cut for the Tigers’ star.
It’s late March, right before Auburn is set to travel down to Palm City, Florida, to compete in the Valspar Collegiate, and Koivun, the world’s top-ranked amateur, is enjoying a stretch where he’s opened the spring with three wins in four starts. After wrapping a lengthy sit-down interview, it’s time to head outside for a video shoot. Realizing his shoes will be visible, Koivun debates whether he’s going to wear Nike, Auburn’s official partner, or FootJoy, with which Koivun has had a longstanding relationship. Eventually, Koivun plucks a fresh pair of Nikes from a half dozen or so options, some more broken in than others, and laces them up. Those FootJoys will soon get plenty of run, however, as Koivun has known for months that this will be his final semester with the Tigers. He wrestled with the choice, to turn pro or return for his senior year, then deliberated when to show his cards. Ultimately, he opted to delay any announcement until after the season concluded out of respect for his team.
“When’s this debuting, again?” Koivun asks, making sure he’s free to expound on his future.
“I’m going to do everything I can to go win another national championship for Auburn,” he continues. “But after May, I’ve got big-boy duties.”
Koivun, 21, made it official on Friday morning: Nine days after leading Auburn to its second NCAA Championship in three years, Koivun revealed to the world that he intends to turn professional after next week’s U.S. Open and activate the PGA Tour card that’s been slipped into his back pocket since last May, when he satisfied the requirements of PGA Tour University’s Accelerated program.
He is just the third player to pass through Accelerated, which was created in late 2022 and designed to reward amateurs who achieve select elite benchmarks, following Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent and Florida State’s Luke Clanton. Sargent, like Koivun, returned to school for one more season after earning his card while Clanton polished off the final few months of his junior season before jumping to the pro ranks. Neither has enjoyed much success since: Sargent has missed 14 of 21 cuts and posted just one top-10; Clanton has been a little better, making 17 of his 24 cuts, but he, too, boasts only a single top-10. Neither, though, mastered college golf like Koivun has. His career scoring average (68.89) is more than a stroke better than any other Tiger, and twice he’s notched a dozen top-10s in a single season.
Koivun will dive into the play-for-pay waters as arguably the most hyped prospect since Jon Rahm, maybe even Tiger Woods, as he’s not only dominated his peers with 11 wins in three seasons but last summer became the first amateur to ever post four consecutive top-11 finishes on Tour.
“He’s easily a top five amateur of all-time,” says Josh Gregory, Koivun’s short-game instructor who coached Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau in college and against the likes of Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas.
“I don’t think he has a weakness. He flushes it, he hits it a long way, he’s really good around the greens now, and he’s arguably one of the best putters in the world.
“He’s got 14 clubs that he can win with.”
Fortunately for the soft-spoken Koivun, his parents encouraged him to always let his clubs do the talking.
SANTA TERESA GOLF CLUB MIGHT be the best deal in San Jose, California, especially if you’re a kid. The public facility features an 18-hole course, where it’ll cost you only $79 plus tax for a prime weekend tee time, and a nine-hole, par-3 layout. The greens are smooth, the range is good and the club accommodates hundreds of juniors, whether through Youth on Course’s $60 annual membership, PGA Junior League or the club’s monthly tournaments.
With Santa Teresa just 10 minutes from the Koivuns’ house, it was the perfect spot for Meghan Koivun to bring her only child, a natural athlete who initially dreamed of being an NFL quarterback but enjoyed all things outdoors. A stay-at-home mom, Meghan would take Jackson to the golf course most days, sit in a cart, on a bench or under a tree, and watch her little boy fall in love with the game.
“He always knew it was him and the course, and I think that’s what he liked the best,” Meghan said.
Santa Teresa’s claim to fame isn’t just that it boasts Jackson Koivun but also the world’s top-ranked female amateur, Oregon’s Kiara Romero, who is on the cusp of earning her LPGA card this summer through that tour’s Accelerated-like program. Koivun and Romero ran in the same circle as kids. Legend goes that when they were each 7 years old, the pair met in the final of a junior match-play event on Santa Teresa’s par-3 course. Tied after nine holes of regulation, the match went at least nine extra holes, according to some accounts, though Romero feels like it was only six or so.
“I just remember him telling his friend before the match that there’s no way he’s losing to a girl,” Romero recalled. “I ended up winning and making him cry.”
Don’t worry, Koivun won plenty. He still holds the par-3 record, an 8-under 19 – the scorecard is framed inside the clubhouse – 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, “Champ,” what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“I want to be on the PGA Tour,” Koivun answered confidently, already dressed the part.
“And you just never doubted him,” Garcia says. “Even back then, he was the hardest-working kid. He just practiced and practiced, and he never got tired of it.”
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’t 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.
Koivun wasn’t 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’s campus after the previous year’s Future Masters.
“I don’t know why, but I just really wanted that sweatshirt,” Koivun said “It’s almost like fate.”
When Chris Williams, a former top-ranked amateur during his days at Washington, was hired as Auburn’s assistant in June 2021, his first recruiting trip was to fly to San Jose to watch Koivun compete in an AJGA event.
“I show up and there’s this little, scrawny kid with a pushcart,” Williams recalled. “He’s wearing navy shorts and an orange shirt, and I thought, ‘Well, this is a good start.’”
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.
Koivun’s visit to Auburn lasted over eight hours. Meghan remembers everyone sitting in Auburn head coach Nick Clinard’s 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: “Mom, Dad, I don’t want to leave. I want to start working right now.”
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.
“Sure enough,” Williams said, “an hour later, Jackson calls, and he’s like, ‘I’m canceling my visits. I want to come to Auburn.’”
IF ANYONE CAN RECOGNIZE HARD work, it’s Clinard. Clinard’s 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’t 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’s one of the highest-paid golf coaches in the country with two NCAA Championships under his belt.
Koivun’s work ethic, however, is unlike anything Clinard has witnessed from a college player.
“His definition of a day off is like putting for an hour and a half,” Clinard said. “I call it an achiever-type mindset, that internal drive to be great, to be elite in this game. And he’s not satisfied unless he’s the best.”
Upon arriving on the Plains, all the much-ballyhooed freshman cared about was making the Tigers’ starting lineup, no easy feat considering the talent already there – J.M. Butler, Brendan Valdes, Carson Bacha. Despite dealing with several illnesses, including a bout with mono, Koivun didn’t 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 – Haskins, Hogan, Nicklaus and Mickelson.
“He was so sick multiple times freshman year, I was worried sick about him,” Meghan Koivun said. “But he just kept grinding through. The team pushed him so hard, and in a good way. … 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.”
Added Koivun: “I worked my ass off to get into that lineup. … I was a little psychotic.”
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’s 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)
NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Josiah Gilbert, Koivun’s 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.
“It’s like 8 a.m., and I look in the middle bay and Jackson is hitting balls,” Gilbert said. “Not 12 hours removed from winning an SEC Championship, and he was back at it. … I stayed and practiced that day after seeing that.”
It’s not uncommon for Garcia to wake up at 5 a.m. to a few swing videos from Koivun asking, “What do you think?” Garcia will then FaceTime his star student, who is two hours ahead and already on the range, and they’ll 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.
Even after last month’s 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.
“All that adds up,” George Koivun says. “If you’re a golfer, and you want to become very good, you know, that total immersion, it will get you there.”
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.
“What does he do better than his peers?” this interviewer asks.
Williams responds, “How long you got?”
Competitiveness? Williams likens Koivun to one of his contemporaries, Justin Thomas – just a quieter version. “If we’re fishing, he wants to catch a bigger fish than you,” Gilbert adds.
Mindset? “He’s the most positive, optimistic person I’ve ever coached,” Clinard says. “He really expects good things to happen to him.”
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. “His dispersion is second to none, like he does not hit bad shots,” Gilbert says. “And 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.” Koivun has also dialed in his wedge game to where he’s 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.
Even Koivun’s chipping, by far his biggest weakness, has improved under Gregory’s guidance. “And we haven’t even scratched the surface on being able to work week in and week out,” Gregory adds.
But Koivun’s greatest weapon is his putter. Though a constant tinkerer – Koivun switched wands midway through last month’s NCAA Championship – 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.
“Jackson’s the best putter I’ve ever seen,” Alexander said. “His stroke is pretty much perfect. It kind of reminds me of some guy named Tiger Woods a little bit.”
Alexander echoes Gregory’s assertion that Koivun has few equals in the college and amateur game, putting him alongside Woods, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson and Scott Verplank.
Perhaps Koivun’s only kryptonite? Asked if Koivun ever gets nervous, Koivun’s roommate Cayden Pope wastes no time in humbling Auburn’s all-everything.
“Just around girls,” Pope says, cracking a smile.
BEFORE COMPETING IN LAST YEAR’S 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.
“He walks in, and I was just like, ‘Wow,’” Garcia said. “He’s always had that swagger, that winner’s walk, but this was different. He had this different aura about him, like I’m a Tour player.”
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’t exhale completely.
“He had been working toward that for a long time,” George Koivun said, “but now the question was, when was it going to be triggered.”
Koivun wasted little time in committing to returning to Auburn for his junior year, then shined in the big leagues – 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’t 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.
“I think learning and confidence for me go hand in hand,” Koivun said that week. “The more I learn, the more confident I get.”
But upon settling back at Auburn ahead of the fall semester, Koivun wasn’t 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 – relatively, of course – as he finished T-17, T-10 and T-5 in three fall starts.
“I think he was questioning why he went back,” Meghan Koivun said. “He had great success at Procore and in the Wyndham and, I mean, he just felt he was right at home in all those places. … 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.”
Deep down, Koivun had already made his mind up that this would be his final season with the Tigers; he just hadn’t vocalized it yet. That changed in early November, when he huddled his parents, Garcia, Clinard, Williams and agent Lance Young of Excel.
“I had this decision of whether I want to stay or turn pro weighing on me, and I’m thinking about that when I’m trying to compete in tournaments, and it just wasn’t a healthy mindset,” Koivun said. “Once I was like, OK, this is what I’m doing, I have 10 more tournaments in college, I’m gonna go try to win all 10 of them, that just kind of flipped the switch in me.”
Clinard recalls Koivun telling him at the start of the spring, “You will see a different me, and I’m ready to dominate.”
During the Tigers’ first practice round of the semester, in Hawaii ahead of the Amer Ari Invitational, Koivun hit the flagstick with each of his final two approach shots. “He was feeling it,” Gilbert said. Koivun texted the same to Garcia.
“When he says that it feels good, then I know it’s really, really good. I was like, OK, here we go.”
Koivun opened the Amer Ari with back-to-back 10-under 62s to break Woods’ NCAA record of lowest 36-hole score in relation to par by two strokes. A day later, Koivun won by five shots, the first of his six spring victories. His third SEC medal came by a whopping seven strokes. In his 10 spring events, he was a combined 121 under. To compare, Oklahoma State’s Preston Stout, who won five times in the spring, including the NCAA individual title, was 93 under.
Koivun lost his first match at La Costa before leading Stout, 1 up, in their highly anticipated semifinal showdown when their match was halted due to Auburn clinching its spot in the final. Koivun’s 4-and-3 triumph over UCLA’s top player, Baylor Larrabee, contributed to the Tigers’ dominant 4-1 win over the Bruins.
In that moment, everyone wanted to finally know Koivun’s decision. He was even asked about his plan during the trophy presentation live on Golf Channel.
“We’ll see,” Koivun said before Clinard began to chant, “One more year! One more year! One more year!”
A grinning Koivun and his teammates burst into laughter. Nothing else needed to be said.
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 03: Head coach Nick Clinard of the Auburn Tigers laughs with Jackson Koivun during an interview after defeating the UCLA Bruins in the final round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on June 03, 2026 in Carlsbad, California. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images)
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AUBURN’S CELEBRATION ROLLED INTO EARLY Thursday morning at La Costa’s only hangout spot, Bar Trazza, long enough for two replays of the final broadcast to cycle through on the bar’s big projector screen. With every big moment relived, the entire room delivered a room-shaking, “Boom!”
When it was time for the final putt of his college career to be shown, Koivun began to step toward the screen, slowly picking up speed as his ball tracked toward the hole. Just as the ball disappeared, Koivun lept into the air and produced a violent, upper-cut fist pump. “Boom!”
Perfect timing.
Koivun’s pro debut will likely come at the John Deere in Silvis, Illinois, not far from where George, an Iowa grad, grew up. He’s set to ink endorsement deals with Titleist, Malbon and FootJoy, among others. Gregory concedes it’s impossible to replicate not having an ‘a’ next to one’s name, but if anyone can adjust seamlessly, it’s the grounded, humble Koivun.
With his shades on the next morning, Koivun loaded up his belongings in an SUV in La Costa’s valet circle, hopped in the passenger seat and just like that, he was on his way to the pros. He’s aware that while much is about to change, it doesn’t all need to, including the dream that he’s had since those early days at Santa Teresa.
“I’ve always just wanted to be the best player in the world,” Koivun said. “I know that’s a lofty goal, but if you’re not shooting high, you’re not going to achieve your true potential.”
And if you never settle for No. 4, you’ll always be teeing off as No. 1.