MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Jackson Koivun’s inspired playoff run ended Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship with the 21-year-old closing with an even-par 70 to tie for 24th.
He needed a tie for seventh or better to have any chance of advancing to next week’s BMW Championship and his postseason chances largely unraveled on the 11th hole. But the game’s most promising young star said he’s savored his time since breaking through for his first PGA Tour victory at last month’s 3M Open.
“It’s been fun,” Koivun said. “Obviously, 3M was great and I had my game, but the last three weeks it’s just been a learning experience. To be honest, I’ve never [played] four weeks in a row and learning how to recover and eat enough to not get exhausted.
“Looking back, if I play [No.] 11 in even par I’m playing next week and that kind of stinks, but I’m happy with how this summer turned out.”
Koivun made a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 11th hole Sunday, bouncing his tee shot off a walking bridge and chipping his next shot into a water hazard. On Thursday, he made a double-bogey 5 on the hole, a difference of five shots that would have been enough to crack the top 50 in FEC points and earn him a spot in next week’s field.
Despite missing out on the second playoff event, Koivun said his six events since joining the Tour have been an eye-opening experience.
“That I’m not immortal,” he laughed when asked what he’s learned about himself. “It’s completely different, in college you’re traveling a lot but it’s not four weeks on the road at four different spots. I need to learn to figure out how to eat more, I’m losing weight.”
To be specific on that last point, Koivun said he’s lost 10 pounds since turning professional in June, and that’s not counting his week in Memphis with temperatures that hovered above 100 degrees all week.
“It’s just a ton of learning experiences,” Koivun said. “Figuring out my game plan during practice rounds and all the fun stuff like that. I’m excited for a little bit of a break before I get back into grind mode in the fall.”
Koivun was projected to finish 67th on the FedExCup points list and will need to improve that number in the fall if he hopes to play his way into the first few signature events of 2027. He said he plans to play the Biltmore Championship, a new fall stop scheduled for Sept. 17-20, and will decide what he might add after that.
Koivun admitted that the postseason points list and a potential spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup team had been on his mind the last few weeks. Although he’s well outside the top 6 automatic qualifiers for this year’s U.S. Presidents Cup team (53rd), he hoped to possibly impress captain Brandt Snedeker with a playoff run to the Tour Championship.
“It’s been weighing on me a little bit and people talk about the Presidents Cup like I should be on the team,” Koivun said. “Simply, I know I can go out there and play and win for the Presidents Cup, I just don’t think I’ve proved that yet to the captain. It definitely weighed on me a little bit and I knew if I made it to the top 30 [and advanced to the Tour Championship] there’d be a decent chance, but even just getting into the playoffs and going out and playing some good golf was a really fun experience.”