Jackson Koivun has experienced the nerves of a Sunday finish and the sweat of a playoff chase in the six short weeks he has been on the PGA Tour.
The 21-year-old now can say he has conquered both.
Koivun, who left Auburn in June and won the 3M Open in only his third start, narrowly hung on to secure the 70th spot in the FedEx Cup standings Sunday, meaning he gets to play on in the PGA Tour’s lucrative postseason.
But he had to sweat it out after closing with a 71 at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Matt Wallace and Davis Thompson were still on the course and in range of finishing high enough to bump Koivun out of the top 70. But they failed to hole all the key putts, and Koivun made it with eight points to spare.
A bogey might have been enough to knock him out, but on the 18th hole at Sedgefield Country Club, Koivun piped his drive straight down the middle, leaving a wedge from the fairway and an easy par.
Known for his composure, he was emotionally invested in every outcome down the stretch, a rare sight from the past two months.
“It’s a different type of nerves when you know you don’t have your stuff and you’ve got to go out there and execute some shots,” he said. “I think that kind of sparked some emotion in me. Yeah, it’s easier to get comfortable when you’re playing well. It was just kind of a different feeling for me today.”
Koivun’s six starts are the second fewest in a season by any player to appear in the FedEx Cup playoffs since its inception in 2007. Only Tiger Woods in the 2019-20 season had fewer starts (five) and still advanced.
Koivun now will tee it up Thursday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, with a chance to keep going with a good-enough finish there.
“I wanted to make the playoffs, and I knew that was a farfetched goal,” Koivun said. “If I told myself back in June that I would be sitting at 70 and waiting it out in Greensboro, I think I’d be pretty happy.
“Just have to go into Memphis, hopefully get there with a carefree attitude, get some good prep work in and try to keep climbing.”
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.
