In his third career start as a professional on the PGA Tour, Jackson Koivun, 21, captured the first of what could be many titles in a long, successful career. Blitzing the field at TPC Twin Cities, Koivun bested world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler by three strokes to claim the 2026 3M Open at 25 under just one month after deciding to forego his final collegiate season at Auburn and focus on golf full-time.

Koivun’s total, which included a bogey-free weekend, set a new tournament scoring record at the 3M Open, surpassing Lee Hodges’ 24-under mark from 2023.

With the win, Koivun became the 10th youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 2000 behind only Jordan Spieth, Nick Dunlap, Tom Kim (twice), Matthew Wolff, Aldrich Potgieter, Joaquin Niemann, Rory McIlroy and Si Woo Kim. Koivun did so in his first attempt as a 54-hole leader as he took a three-stroke lead late Saturday thanks to a record back-nine 28 and third-round 61 that separated his name from those in the chasing pack.

Scheffler, meanwhile, finished runner-up for a record fifth time this season, tied for the most by any PGA Tour player since 2000 (Cameron Young in 2022, Ernie Els in 2000).

“I played a great round of golf today,” Koivun told CBS after the round. “Definitely had some nerves coming down on 18. 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. I was able to find some good putts coming down the stretch.”

Along with the victory comes riches for the can’t-miss kid out of Auburn. As a decorated amateur and one of three players alongside Jon Rahm and Ludvig Åberg to win the Ben Hogan Award twice at the collegiate level, Koivun now cashes his first winner’s check at $1.584 million.

In addition to a hefty balance in the bank account, Koivun will also receive an invitation to next year’s Masters, where he will make his tournament debut. He played the U.S. Open earlier this year, finishing T23, which played into his decision to turn pro. The 3M Open marked his 13th career PGA Tour start with 10 coming when he was still an amateur.

Koivun now finds himself in the postseason hunt with only three qualifying tournaments under his belt so far this season. Jumping from No. 194 to No. 70 in the FedEx Cup standings, he is officially inside the bubble for the FedEx Cup Playoffs with two tournaments remaining in the regular season. In control of his destiny the rest of the way, he is in the driver’s seat and playing with house money amid a year that was always going to be icing on the cake as he transitioned from the amateur to professional ranks.

On Sunday at TPC Twin Cities, Koivun let little doubt that the high expectations placed upon his shoulders were more than warranted. Throwing a dart into the par-4 1st, he played off his front foot from the start and continued to push the pace as runs were materialized by the likes of Scheffler, Brian Harman and Chandler Phillips.

They would all be playing for second place as Koivun’s advantage ranged between three and five strokes for the majority of the afternoon. Only a few times did it dip to two strokes, with one of those instances coming when he was not yet even on the golf course.

Another occurrence nearly transpired by the time he made the turn as he faced his first spot of bother in the final round. Rolling through the front nine, Koivun faced a 15-foot par putt just as Scheffler started to find his footing. Converting his par save, he maintained his three-stroke margin heading into the back nine and kept the top player in the game at bay the rest of the way.

Scheffler signed for a final-round 63 to post the clubhouse lead at 22 under, but it was not enough to threaten Koivun in the end. Still two ahead with birdie opportunities out in front, the newly minted pro slammed the door shut on the world No. 1. He added one last birdie down the home stretch for good measure and in doing so announced his arrival on the professional stage to his peers and the greater golf world. Grade: A+

Here are the grades for the rest of the notable names on the leaderboard at the 2026 3M Open.

2. Scottie Scheffler (-22): One season after claiming six 54-hole leads, Scheffler will end the 2026 regular season without holding a single advantage with 18 holes to play. It’s hard to imagine for the world No. 1, who found his putter at TPC Twin Cities but lacked the sharpness and quality in his scoring clubs that sent him into contention at Royal Birkdale the week prior. Still performing at a level that is unmatched, Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in just about every stat imaginable (including the FedEx Cup), including runner-up results where he stands at five — the most by any golfer since 2000. Grade: A

T9. Ben Kohles (-17): Started the week at No. 100 in the FedEx Cup standings and started Sunday as one of Koivun’s closest pursuers. A birdie out of the blocks got him within two strokes of the leader, but that is as close as Kohles would climb, as scoring conversions were often met with ill-timed mistakes. Committed to trying to make the postseason (and falling back on the Korn Ferry Tour if he does not earn his PGA Tour card this way), Kohles is inching closer to that top 70 thanks to this result. He still requires a couple more, but the trend is up and to the right as it has been the last couple of months. Grade: A-

T13. Jake Knapp (-16): One day after Koivun shot the back-nine record at TPC Twin Cities, Knapp matched him, albeit with fewer eagles. Knapp started his back nine with seven straight birdies, parred the tough par-3 17th and polished off his final round 62 with one last circle on the par-5 18th. After getting his season off to a blistering start, Knapp faced a couple of speed bumps due to an injury, but this performance should provide confidence as his health slowly but surely returns to 100%.

“I’ve still got some tape and like a little splint to help [my wrist],” Knapp said. “It’s not great, but I’ve been able to find a way around it and just understand that it’s just more about pain management at this point. Trying to keep myself on somewhat of a ball count or something, but at the same time, don’t have that many events left until the end of the season, so just kind of foot on the gas right now.” Grade: B

T20. Tom Kim (-14): Never seemed to shift into the proper gear required for a sprint like TPC Twin Cities. Strolled along nicely, but did not have that round required in this tournament, where a player takes it into the low 60s and shoots up the leaderboard. The culprit, as it was last week at The Open, was the putter, as he missed chance after chance on the greens. Good news for Kim is that his iron play remains super sharp as it was overseas, and a result like that at the Scottish Open is only a cooperative blade away, it seems. Grade: C+

MC. Max Homa: What momentum was gathered the last few weeks was put to a halt for Homa as a two-round total of 4-over par put him on the wrong side of the cutline. He is firmly inside the top 70 with two weeks to play, but he would like a little more breathing room on another bubble as he drops to No. 50 in the FedEx Cup standings — the cut-off for the BMW Championship and qualification for next year’s signature events. The early exit marks the end of five straight made cuts in a row dating back to the PGA Championship. Grade: F

Jackson Koivun turned professional with massive expectations. After a quick hiccup with a missed cut in his first start, the 21-year-old has quickly figured out the PGA Tour learning curve.

The former Auburn star began the third round at the 2026 3M Open four shots off Michael Kim’s pace, but a furious run on the back nine vaulted him into the lead alone at 20 under, three shots clear of the field. Koivun made the turn at 2 under for his round and 12 under overall, but he took off on the back nine thanks to a pair of eagles in a record-setting 8-under 28 on the second side at TPC Twin Cities.

He opened his back nine with a birdie at the 10th before making the first of those eagles on the par-5 12th. Koivun was able to get home in two from more than 300 yards out and then poured in an eagle putt up the hill to jump into the lead for the first time at 15 under.

He backed that up with a birdie on the 13th before giving himself another great look at eagle on the drivable par-4 16th, hitting his drive into the slope in front of the green to kill the speed and rolled out to 14 feet for eagle. That putt slid by on the high side, forcing him to settle for a tap-in birdie, but he wasn’t done producing magical shots on the back nine.

On the 212-yard par-3 17th hole, Koivun stayed in that flow state by throwing a dart straight at the pin, rolling out to 7 feet above the hole. He would make that to get to 18 under and arrived at the par-5 18th with a chance at a bit of history.

Koivun needed a birdie to match the tournament record with a 29 on the back nine — which Scottie Scheffler matched earlier in the day — while an eagle at the last would make him the first to post a back nine 28 at TPC Twin Cities. After a mammoth drive, Koivun had just 231 yards into the green and hoisted a long iron high in the air, landing it just into the slope and settling 14 feet right of the hole on the tough to hold back plateau.

From there, the 21-year-old eyed a sweeping right-to-left putt that had perfect speed and found the center of the cup for his second eagle of the day to shoot a 10-under 61 for his round and set that record mark of a back nine 28.

Koivun will carry a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final round over Emiliano Grillo and Ben Kohles, but he’ll have to maintain an aggressive mindset on a course that always has the potential to produce low scores. He’ll know that firsthand after his back nine charge on Saturday, and it will be fascinating to watch how the young star handles his first Sunday with a lead on the PGA Tour. It took him a few rounds to get settled into life on the PGA Tour, but he’s quickly proven why he came in with the expectation to be the game’s next big star, and if he can hold on for the win on Sunday, he’ll affirm all the praise he garnered as an amateur.

Weekend contenders

T2. Emiliano Grillo, Ben Kohles (-17)
T4. Michael Brennan, Chandler Phillips (-16)
T6. Denny McCarthy, Michael Kim, Billy Horschel (-15)
T9. Scottie Scheffler, Davis Thompson, Seamus Power, Brian Harman (-14)
T13. Hideki Matsuyama, Lee Hodges (-13)

Grillo eagled the 18th himself to jump into the final pairing on Sunday alongside Koivun, where he’ll have the opportunity to try and push the young star and see if there are any nerves to rattle the 21-year-old. Brennan is a rising star in his own right and nearly had a spot in that final pairing, but the hard-hitting 24-year-old will try to match his Saturday 63 with another low round on Sunday in pursuit of his own breakthrough win.

Kim had the daunting task of backing up his historic 59 on Friday and struggled to get much of anything going in his third round. He saw his lead evaporate quickly and a day after hitting more than 145 feet of putts, he finished with fewer than 50 feet on Saturday as the putter cooled off considerably.

Then there’s Scottie Scheffler, who was the big story in the middle of the round when he caught fire on the back nine much like Koivun. Scheffler strung together five birdies and an eagle on the back nine — missing a long eagle putt off his own on the 18th — to shoot a 7-under 29 and charge into a share of the clubhouse lead at 14 under when he posted his card. Scheffler’s eagle came on the drivable 16th, where he chipped in from the left greenside rough to spark a roar from the Minnesota crowd.

While that 14 under number was never going to hold up as the lead with the scoring conditions at TPC Twin Cities, Scheffler certainly would’ve hoped to be closer than six shots back entering the final round. Now he’ll need to produce something magical on Sunday to surge past Koivun and the rest if he’s going to capture that elusive second win of 2026.

Updated 2026 3M Open odds, picks

• Jackson Koivun (20/31)
• Ben Kohles (7-1)
• Emiliano Grillo (17/2)
• Michael Brennan (13-1)
• Scottie Scheffler (13-1)
• Chandler Phililps (22-1)

This feels like Koivun’s week to get crowned as the next big thing on the PGA Tour. While it’s just his third start as a professional, Koivun is no stranger to winning golf tournaments and playing with the lead. It’s certainly a different animal on the PGA Tour, especially if he looks up on Sunday and sees Scheffler charging at him, but Koivun dominated the college and amateur ranks, piling up wins in recent years and that experience should pay dividends. There’s not enough scar tissue of close calls as a pro to wear him down, and as he showed with the closing three-hole stretch on Saturday, he is not afraid to hit the shots when called upon late.