Jackson Koivun’s 3M Open victory moved the 21-year-old rookie up 38 spots on the U.S. Presidents Cup points list. He’s now No. 51, behind names such as Matt McCarty, Steven Fisk and Max McGreevy.
The qualifier, of course, is that Koivun has been a professional for a mere three tournaments.
Could Koivun make captain Brandt Snedeker’s 12-man squad for this September’s matches at Medinah?
Before we answer that question, let’s start with the latest standings:
1. Scottie Scheffler
2. Cameron Young
3. Russell Henley
4. Sam Burns
5. Ben Griffin
6. Collin Morikawa
7. Chris Gotterup
8. J.J. Spaun
9. Wyndham Clark
10. Justin Thomas
11. Xander Schauffele
12. Akshay Bhatia
13. Jacob Bridgeman
14. Harris English
15. Ryan Gerard
Scheffler and Young are locks, while something crazy would have to happen for Henley and Burns to each drop out of the top six by Aug. 23, when half the team is finalized following the BMW Championship.
Griffin and Morikawa are probably safe, too, whether they qualify automatically or via captain’s pick. Griffin has bounced back with four top-10s since late April while Morikawa is on the other side of a back injury that halted his early-year momentum.
Same goes for Gotterup, a three-time winner this year, and Clark, the newly minted two-time U.S. Open champion; they’re both going to be on the team so long as they’re healthy.
And there’s also no chance the veteran Schauffele is left home considering his 10-4 career President Cup record and the fact that he was T-18 or better in all four majors this year.
That’s nine names, meaning three spots are theoretically still up for grabs.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the top contenders for those openings, in order of where they stack up on the points list:
Spaun: Last year’s U.S. Open champion went 2-1 in his Ryder Cup debut last fall and won the Valero Texas Open back in April. He’s got three other top-10s this year, including two of those at signature events. Working against Spaun, however, are his seven missed cuts, three of which came in majors before he finally made the weekend at The Open (T-40). One more top-10 probably solidifies Spaun’s place on the team.
Thomas: Like Schauffele, J.T. owns a stellar record at the Presidents Cup (10-3-2). He also went on a nice run to begin the summer, notching seven straight top-25s from Cadillac to Travelers. He’s only missed one cut this year, and that was at API, his first start back after undergoing a microdiscectomy last November. Data Golf has him currently as the 13th highest-ranked eligible American, but like Spaun, if he has a strong playoff showing, he’s on the squad.
Bhatia: This is where things get interesting, as Bhatia won the API as part of a torrid spring run that included a T-3 in Phoenix, T-6 at Pebble, T-16 at Riviera and T-13 at The Players. Since then? Bhatia has just one top-10 (T-5, Travelers) and five MCs in 11 worldwide starts.
Bridgeman: Like Bhatia, Bridgeman did his damage early by winning Genesis and tying for fifth at TPC Sawgrass. He’s only missed one cut all year, but he’s also notched just two top-25s since The Players.
Gerard: Hasn’t won yet on the PGA Tour, but Gerard does have three runners-up this year, plus a recent T-9 at The Open. The issue is other than his six top-11s this year, he’s got just one other top-25 in 15 starts.
English: Does the team need another veteran presence? English boasts nine top-25s this year, but just a single top-10 finish and missed cuts at both summer Opens will work against him.
Maverick McNealy: He’s currently No. 16 in points and like English has also been painting his Data Golf profile green with nine top-25s this year. But his last finish better than T-10? A third at last year’s BMW, almost a year ago.
Patrick Cantlay: One spot below McNealy, though Cantlay is no stranger to these team events. He has cooled a bit since his run of four straight top-12s that included a T-12 at the Masters, and when it comes to a potential final captain’s pick, it might be more beneficial to go with more of a long-term play.
Patrick Reed: The current Race to Dubai No. 1 will be eligible for a pick after his LIV suspension ends next month. He won twice in three starts on the DP World Tour to begin the year, then added a T-12 at the Masters and T-10 at the PGA. The negative here is he’s got no top-10s since the PGA.
Figuring I can stop before diving into Kurt Kitayama’s numbers, Koivun is among 10 names for three spots in this exercise.
While Koivun has only played three tournaments as a pro – he missed the cut in his pro debut at John Deere before a T-10 at Isco – he does own a T-23 at the U.S. Open as an amateur this summer and posted four top-11s in PGA Tour starts last summer, which is part of the Presidents Cup qualifying window – T-11, Deere; T-6, Isco; T-5, Wyndham; T-4, Procore.
This past spring for Auburn, he won six times, including the SEC Championship by seven shots.
He’s 30th in the Data Golf rankings, now ahead of Bhatia, Bridgeman and Reed.
When Ludvig Åberg was selected to the 2023 European Ryder Cup team just months after turning pro, his resumé was objectively less impressive than Koivun’s. He had just one top-10 on the PGA Tour at the time, a T-4 at the 2023 Deere, plus another T-4 at the DPWT’s Czech Masters before his European Masters win prompted Luke Donald to call and offer Åberg a spot. Åberg has also not played a major yet, let alone been a low amateur like Koivun at Shinnecock, and he had two fewer wins in his final college semester.
And yet, Åberg has now played two Ryder Cups, going 4-4 but earning valuable experience to one day help take the reins from Rory McIlroy and Co.
The American core led by Scheffler isn’t nearly as old, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give Koivun, most likely a future superstar, some early Cup experience at Medinah. It’s not like he’s a total wild card either; it’s just his body of work – whatever that looks like come late August – will be a small sample size.
So, what’s the verdict? Koivun is probably behind Spaun and Thomas on the pecking order, but when it comes to who would fill that 12th spot if the team was finalized today, there’s a very good argument to be made that Koivun is ahead of, or at least on par, with the rest of those names.
Either way, Sneds’ job just got harder.