Jackson Koivun Wins the 3M Open in His Third Pro Start, Holding Off Scottie Scheffler

The world No. 1 shot 63, played bogey-free and had the galleries at TPC Twin Cities buzzing. It still was not enough, because a 21-year-old in his third start as a professional refused to blink.

Jackson Koivun closed with a bogey-free 5-under 66 on Sunday to win the 3M Open at 25-under 259, three shots clear of Scottie Scheffler. The total breaks the tournament scoring record of 24-under 260 set by Lee Hodges in 2023. Hideki Matsuyama, Brian Harman, Chandler Phillips and Denny McCarthy tied for third at 20 under.

Tuning Out the Noise

Koivun started the day with a three-shot cushion built on Saturday's 61 (read our Round 3 recap), and he knew exactly who was coming. Scheffler, playing five groups ahead, made a run that turned the back nine into a chase, and the galleries let Koivun hear about it.

"All throughout the crowd I kept hearing, 'Scottie's coming. Scottie's coming,'" Koivun said, per the AP. "I just tried to tune that out and keep playing the golf I knew I could."

He did. On a 97-degree afternoon, Koivun never dropped a shot, his second straight bogey-free round. All three of his bogeys for the week came on Friday.

The Putt That Held It Together

The moment Koivun pointed to came early. At the par-4 ninth, his approach found a bunker, and with Scheffler already moving, a bogey there would have opened the door. He got up and down, saving par to keep his three-shot lead and taking the momentum into the back nine.

"Might be the biggest putt I made all week," Koivun said.

The clincher came at the 16th. While Scheffler was doing his post-round interview, Koivun rolled in a birdie to get to 25 under and three clear, taking the drama out of the last two holes.

Scheffler's Sunday Charge

Scheffler did everything a chaser can do. He began the day six back, posted a bogey-free 8-under 63, and finished alone in second at 22 under. His best chance to apply real pressure came at the 14th, where a 5-foot birdie putt lipped in and out.

It is his fifth runner-up finish this season. His only win this year came in his first start, at The American Express, though he still holds a big lead atop the FedExCup standings, 794 points clear of Matt Fitzpatrick according to the tournament.

Scheffler was generous afterward. "We're seeing a lot of really, really good young talent in the game today," he said. "I think that shows not only how talented of a player he is, but the mental strength he has as well."

A Résumé Written in Fast Forward

This win has been building for a while, just not on this timeline. Koivun grew up in San Jose, moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at 17, and learned the game on a public nine-hole course. At Auburn, he broke the NCAA career record for per-round scoring average at 68.89 and helped the Tigers win the national championship last month. He made 10 TOUR starts as an amateur, then earned his card through the PGA TOUR University Accelerated program, only the third player to do so after Gordon Sargent and Luke Clanton.

His first two pro starts were a missed cut at the John Deere Classic and a tie for 10th at the ISCO Championship. Start number three was this. He won in his 13th TOUR start overall, at 21 years, 2 months and 3 days old, making him the youngest TOUR winner since Aldrich Potgieter at the 2025 Rocket Classic and the fourth rookie winner this season, joining Alex Fitzpatrick, Kristoffer Reitan and Stefano Mazzoli.

The numbers back up the eye test. Koivun led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach for the week and ranked third in putting. Afterward he hugged his father, George, and talked with his mother, Meghan, who could not make the trip, over FaceTime.

What It Means

The stakes were real. Koivun earned $1,584,000 and jumped 124 spots to 70th in the FedExCup, the last spot inside the Playoff cutoff, with two regular-season events left. Two weeks ago he was tying for 10th in Kentucky. Now he is a TOUR winner with a shot at the postseason.

Behind him, the week had plenty of stories. Matsuyama finished with a back-nine 30, closing birdie-eagle on 17 and 18. McCarthy birdied three of his last four holes and led the field in putting to post his best finish since the 2024 Valero Texas Open. Harman played his final 54 holes without a bogey, and Phillips logged his best finish of the season. Jake Knapp shot the day's low round, a 62 with a back-nine 28, to tie for 13th.

Emiliano Grillo (69) tied for seventh with Davis Thompson, and Ben Kohles (70), the first-round leader, finished ninth (see our Round 1 recap). Michael Kim, who shot Friday's 59 (our Round 2 recap has the details), tied for 10th. Defending champion Kurt Kitayama, who won here last year (read our 2025 final-round recap), tied for 24th, so the 3M Open still has never had a repeat winner.

The Takeaway

Scheffler shot 63 on Sunday and lost by three. That sentence says plenty about the player who beat him. Koivun did not need to do anything spectacular in the final round. He needed to stay steady under the loudest pressure in golf, and he made it look routine.

Full results are on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's final-round recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (final-round recap and leaderboard), 3M Open tournament notes, AP, ESPN, Sky Sports. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.