One Last Ride: Koivun Closes Historic First Chapter at Shinnecock Hills

Since the turn of the century, few golfers have accomplished more in the amateur game than Auburn’s Jackson Koivun. 

At this week’s 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, the first chapter of Koivun’s already historic career will come to a close, as the decorated competitor is set to finish out his amateur career before accepting PGA Tour membership and forgoing his senior season at Auburn. 

Born in San Jose, Calif., Koivun showcased a knack for golf from a young age, especially putting.

Before going on to win three consecutive Southeastern Conference individual championships, the Bay Area product, who now resides in Chapel Hills, N.C., grew up on the fairways of Santa Teresa Golf Club, located about 10 minutes from his childhood home in San Jose. The facility, which features an 18-hole course and one of the area’s finest nine-hole par-3 layouts, nicknamed "Shorty," is where he largely honed his craft, competing against local juniors, including fellow World Amateur Golf Ranking® No. 1 Kiara Romero. Romero, the low amateur in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally, just helped the USA reclaim the Curtis Cup.  

Years later, with multiple American Junior Golf Association tournaments under his belt, Koivun’s hard work paid off as he made an appearance in the 2019 Future Masters, in Dothan, Ala. 

Amid a field that included future college golf standouts Aaron Pounds, Jay Mendell and Jack Turner, the then-14-year-old captured one of the first prominent junior titles of his career, pacing the field with the 54-hole tournament's only sub-200 finish (11-under 199). 

That victory only provided more confidence to the young phenom. Under the guidance of his father and swing coach, Fred Garcia, he continued to pile up top-10 finishes, including the Northern California Golf Association Junior Championship in 2020 (which he won the following year), the AJGA Junior at San Jose in 2021 and prestigious Rolex Tournament of Champions later that same year.

By then, Koivun flashed on the radar of the Auburn golf program. 

As the story goes, after Auburn began to take notice, the highly-ranked junior needed just one visit to the Alabama-based school to make his college decision. Despite being wooed by many other top schools, Koivun only deliberated for a couple of hours before telling Coach Nick Clinard he was coming to Auburn.

Fast forward to 2023 and Koivun, the top-ranked player at the time, rounded out an elite signing class for the Tigers that also boasted Queenslander Josiah Gilbert and Kentucky native Cayden Pope. 

Once at Auburn, he wasted no time showing the college golf world why he was so highly touted.

Fresh off a quarterfinal appearance in the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, he took the college golf world by storm, finishing the year with a laundry list of accolades and awards. The list of accomplishments is impressive for any college golfer, let alone a first-year player: Two individual victories, first-team All-SEC, SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year, and the SEC individual title -- where he posted a 12-under performance at Sea Island Golf Club, dominating a stellar field to win by six strokes. For his final act in a historic freshman season, he capped the year with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Division I Individual Championship at Omni La Costa Resort. 

For his efforts, the Auburn sensation earned the first of his two career Haskins Awards, presented annually to the nation's top college golfer, while becoming the first freshman since Alabama’s Justin Thomas (2012) to win the award in his debut collegiate season.

And there would not be a sophomore slump.  

Koivun again was named first-team All-America and SEC Player of the Year, improved his freshman individual win total (two) with three victories, lowered his program-record scoring average to 69.00 and, perhaps most impressively, became the first player in 49 years to win back-to-back SEC titles.

It left Koivun with a difficult decision: stay in school or turn professional and begin what looked to be a promising PGA Tour career?  

He had just become the third player ever to earn a PGA Tour card through the PGA Tour University Accelerated Program, earning the necessary 20 “Accelerated Points” awarded to college players for accomplishments achieved in collegiate, amateur and professional events.

After discussing the decision with family and Auburn's coaching staff, including Coach Clinard, Koivun ultimately concluded that while his game was ready for the PGA Tour, he wasn't yet prepared to leave college golf behind. 

“Yeah, I could have turned pro after sophomore year, but I just knew I wasn't ready,” said Koivun during his pre-championship press conference on Monday. “It was kind of a game-time decision if I wanted to. I holed my putt on the last hole at [the 2025 NCAA Championship] and got my 20th point there. I had about a week to make that decision, and I just wasn't ready, and I'm very happy I made that decision.”

“I think my golf game was there ... but I just think I wasn't ready to leave college.” 

The decision proved fruitful, as he was given the opportunity to compete in several PGA Tour events during the summer before continuing his dominant stretch of college golf in the fall of 2025.

Prior to beginning his final season at Auburn, he competed in seven professional events, recording three top-10 finishes at the ISCO Championship, Wyndham Championship and Procore Championship. Despite performing well in those events and others, the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club was a different story.  

Competing the first major championship of his career, it was an uncharacteristic week for Koivun who missed out on advancing to the weekend by one stroke with a 36-hole total of 8-over 148.

Moving into the 2025-26 college season, Koivun’s unprecedented rise reached astronomical heights. He added a third conference title to his résumé, won six of his 13 tournament starts, became the first college player in history to claim all three national player of the year awards twice (Haskins, Hogan and Nicklaus) and earned more than double the number of PGA Tour Accelerated points needed to secure his PGA Tour card. 

He topped it off by helping the USA win a fifth consecutive Walker Cup Match at the picturesque Cypress Point Club, in Pebble Beach, Calif. The only thing missing was a U.S. Amateur title, which he failed to win in three attempts. 

Koivun’s Auburn career ended the exact same way it began, as he helped the Tigers win a second NCAA championship with fellow 2023 recruits Gilbert and Pope; tying for 10th individually. 

Despite the absence of a U.S. Amateur trophy, the Auburn Tiger’s amateur achievements certainly could match that of Stanford’s Tiger. Woods finished his college jaunt at Stanford with 11 titles, including the 1996 NCAAs, and produced an unprecedented three consecutive U.S. Amateur wins.

Now Koivun can make one last amateur statement at Shinnecock Hills before joining the play-for-pay ranks. But it won’t be easy.  

“I hadn't played Shinnecock until this week,” said Koivun on Monday. “I played 18 yesterday and nine this morning. You look at the scores, and I think there's only been a handful of guys (three) to ever shoot under par for four rounds out here. Just getting into that mindset that making pars is a good score and managing your mistakes and accepting that sometimes you can hit a good shot and it may not pay off. That's just the mindset you need to have.”

While his first appearance in a U.S. Open left much to be desired, the 21-year-old phenom maintained that this year will be different, thanks to an improved mentality. 

“Like I talked about earlier, I’d just say my maturity has grown,” added Koivun when asked about what makes him a different player this year compared to last. “Just understanding how golf courses can affect you, where the misses are, what's a good score, what pins you can and can’t go at and just accepting that par is just a great score on some holes...”

Along with additional experience and gained maturity, Koivun will have a familiar face joining him inside the ropes.  

Logan Reilly, a rising sophomore at Auburn, earned his way into the field via qualifying. The Virginia native who garnered the clinching point for the Tigers in the final against UCLA, shot 68-67--135 at Woodmont C.C. (North Course), in Rockville, Md., just five days after helping Auburn to the title. 

“Yeah, we played the back nine yesterday,” said Koivun when asked about his Auburn teammate. "He's such a good player and so much fun to be around. He's still young, but he's got a lot of talent. I'm excited to see where he goes from his freshman to sophomore year.”

Koivun, who tees off on Thursday morning at 8:25 alongside PGA Tour players Sahith Theegala and 2013 USA Walker Cupper Michael Kim, certainly knows that transition as he’s about to make the biggest one of his career.

“Yeah, this past month has definitely been a whirlwind.” He noted. “Just a lot of travel, a lot of change, but all good things. All good things that I'm happy and excited about. I’m just happy to be here at Shinnecock.” 

Austin Eames is the USGA’s summer communications intern. Email him at aeames@usga.org.