PGA Tour Rookie Koivun Holds off World No. 1 Scheffler to Earn First PGA Tour Victory at 3M Open

  BLAINE, Minn. – It may not have been the best round of his young career, but Sunday’s final round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities certainly turned out to be the most important for 21-year-old Jackson Koivun.

Making his third start just 24 days after turning professional, the former Auburn University golfer carded a 5-under 66 to earn a three-stroke victory over World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for his first PGA Tour win.

“I played a great round of golf today. Definitely had some nerves coming down on 18,” Koivun said following an impressive final round Sunday. “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.

“I just love this game. I love golf, it's everything I do. I have a tough time getting away from it—it's been love at first sight. Just want to say thanks to my parents for helping me get into this and supporting me throughout the entire journey.”

Fueled by an 8-under 28 during his back nine Saturday, Koivun’s round of 61 set a new course record and put him in front of the field by three strokes.

The PGA Tour rookie showed zero signs of slowing opening Sunday’s final round, carding three birdies over his first six holes to the field at an arm’s length, but it was a critical par putt from 14 feet that Koivun credited in keeping the momentum during the final round.

“I think the putt on 9 might be the biggest putt I made all week,” Koivun said. “Scoreboard was right there and I saw exactly how I stood. If I missed that, then I only had a two-shot lead where last time I checked I had a five-shot lead. So, making that was huge for my momentum, just helped me keep it rolling on the back nine.”

Koivun converted his birdie chance from 10 feet at the par-5 12th to reach 24-under for the championship before rolling in one final birdie chance from six feet at the 16th to set a tournament scoring record by reaching 25-under, going bogey-free for the final two rounds of the championship.

“I started to feel a little bit of nerves maybe on 15 or 16 because it started setting in that, ‘Okay, you can definitely do this and you've got some tough holes coming down the stretch,’” he said. “I hadn't particularly played 18 well except for yesterday, hadn't hit the best drives. I didn't really hit the best drive today, but it worked out. I think once I got over that drive on 18 and got it down there in the fairway, we definitely felt a little less pressure.

“It never really feels like you're going to win until you make the putt and that's kind of when all the emotions come crashing down on you. I think I did a really good job this week of staying level-headed, but I felt like that was an appropriate time to show some emotions.”

Koivun turned professional following his 23rd-place finish at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills but would miss the cut in his PGA Tour professional debut at the John Deere Classic earlier this month.

A week later the San Jose, Calif., native notched a top-10 finish at the ISCO Championship.

Koivun entered the week 194th in the FedEx Cup standings and will leap to 70th following his win Sunday, qualifying him for the first playoff event in two weeks.

Winner 11 times while at Auburn, Koivun qualified through the PGA Tour University program, amassing more than the 20 points needed to earn PGA Tour membership for the 2025 season. Instead of turning professional, Koivun opted to return to Auburn where he helped the Tigers to a second national championship in three seasons.

He is the only player in NCAA history to win all three national player of the year awards (Ben Hogan Award, Jack Nicklaus Award, Fred Haskins Award) in both 2024 and 2026.

Making his debut at the 3M Open this week Scheffler was denied his second win of the season, instead the 30-year-old Texan notched his 15th top-10 of the season in just 16 starts in 2026.

“Depending on how Jackson played, I knew I was going to need a really low number regardless. I wanted to get something really low on the front nine and kind of put myself on the leaderboard,” Scheffler said Sunday. “I didn't quite have that, I think I was only 3 under on the front so I wasn't able to really apply too much pressure early on.

Overall was a pretty solid week. Sometimes on these types of courses you can't really have too many off nines and I felt like for me this week, maybe back nine Friday and front nine Saturday kind of cost me, that little stretch.

Entering Sunday’s final round six shots off the lead, Scheffler went bogey-free and carded four birdies over his final nine holes to climb seven spots on the leaderboard for his fourth runner-up finish of the season.

“This week was tremendous. The fans were great, the tournament was really solid,” he said. “Was able to do some good stuff and hear some cheers. It was definitely a lot of fun with the fans this week.”

Even with 20 Tour victories to his credit since turning professional in 2018, Scheffler said he’s impressed with the caliber of incoming talent on the PGA Tour in recent years.

“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.

“I think a lot of times you can see that belief when they see some other guys have success and that guys that they're competing against and you get out here, it only can give these guys more confidence. We're seeing a ton of talent coming up from the college ranks and PGA TOUR U. I think it's really good for the sport and really good for our tour as well.”

Making his PGA Tour debut this week after earning a sponsor’s exemption into the championship thanks to his impressive win at the Minnesota State Open two weeks ago, Muzzy Donohue fired a final-round 64 Sunday to finish tied for 34th at 11-under 274.

“It's definitely not sunk in yet,” Donohue said Sunday. “I mean, it's pretty cool. I feel like now it's over I can kind of forget about like staying present and doing all the things I'm supposed to do on the golf course and really just enjoy it with my friends and family.

“The support this week was incredible. It was super cool to see all the little kids following along, giving me [knuckles] and stuff, and all the St. Thomas Academy alumni and my college buddies as well. It was a blast.”

Spring Lake Park, Minn., native Troy Merritt claimed his best finish at the championship in five seasons Sunday, posting a final-round 73 to finish tied for 39th at 10-under 274.

An eagle on the final hole Sunday lifted 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama into a share of third place at 20-under 264 with 2023 Open champion Brian Harmon, Chandler Phillips and Denny McCarthy.