Jackson Koivun is finally a pro, and the buzz around him is not about luck or hype alone.

The 21-year-old makes his official PGA Tour debut this week at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, where he is grouped with Jordan Spieth and Ben Griffin.

Before that, Sean Martin of the PGA Tour posted on X: "For all his physical skills, it is the mental side that many believe makes him elite. These are some of the things I learned while producing the piece, The Acceleration of Jackson Koivun."

"Hindsight may be 20/20, but there were early markers that he was different," he added.

That difference showed up almost as soon as Koivun began playing when he was only five at Santa Teresa Golf Club in San Jose.

Terry Sullivan, the club pro there, said Koivun could focus "just a little more clearly than the other kids, and he was very committed to wanting to be a great golfer that early. We could really see that in him,” per Martin's post.

That mentality showed up at the 2025 Procore Championship. Ten U.S. Ryder Cup players were in the field. And Koivun, then still an Auburn junior, told his short-game coach Josh Gregory that he wanted to finish ahead of eight of them.

“That’s his mentality,” said Gregory. “Some people might think that is arrogant, but it’s not. It’s just facts. That’s what he wants to do, and he’s not afraid to say it.”

He nearly pulled it off. Koivun finished fourth, played the final round in the last group with Ben Griffin, and ended the week with only two Ryder Cuppers ahead of him.

But the most important trait Martin believes was Koivun's lack of fear of failure. In practice or in competition, he's willing to try things and get pushed into uncomfortable spots, even if it means falling flat.

“He loves to show off, and that’s one of the traits you can’t really teach,” Gregory told Martin.

“When people ask, ‘What impresses you most about TOUR players?’ it’s not that they hit it 350, it’s not that they get up and down from everywhere. It’s their absolute no-fear mentality, not afraid to fail, not afraid to hit a shot.”

Koivun’s resume backs up the hype

Last year, after deferring his PGA Tour card, Koivun headed to play a junior season at Auburn.

He won six times over his final ten collegiate starts, setting the Auburn record for career wins with 11, five more than anyone else in program history.

His season scoring average of 68.20 broke Collin Morikawa's NCAA single-season stroke-average record by more than four-tenths of a shot, and his career average of 68.89 is now an NCAA record too.

And with that, Loivun swept the three National Player of the Year awards (Ben Hogan Award, Jack Nicklaus Award, Fred Haskins Award.

“Probably the best I’ve coached in 25 years and the best I’ve seen in 25 years of coaching as well,” Auburn coach Nick Clinard told the PGA Tour.

Russell Henley,  a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, is close with Koivun. He lives in Columbus, Georgia, about 30 miles from Koivun's Auburn campus, and they often practice together.

“I don’t think he has a lot to learn. That kid is good,” Henley said of Koivun. “I always tell him, ‘Just let me know when you turn pro so I can retire.’”

At the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, one of the hardest tests in golf,  Koivun made the cut and finished T23 as a low amateur recently.

Read more at Daily Club Golf!

Written by

Md Saife Fida

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi