Jackson Koivun earns PGA Tour card, says he'll return to Auburn next season

CARLSBAD, Calif. — For Jackson Koivun, it was not if, but when in his hunt for a PGA Tour card through its University Accelerated qualifying program. But that “when” was a pesky mental pretzel that stayed with him. Each time Koivun teed it up in a big event, reporters and their stories reminded him that he was getting closer to the big tour prize.

“I definitely thought about it,” Koivun said on Monday afternoon at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. “I tried to do my best not to let it get in my head, and just kind of go play golf. … It was a weight, and it felt like there's a lot of eyes on you. But at the end of the day all you can do is kind of just try to look away from that and look, play golf.”

That weight is gone now. By shooting two-under-par 70 in the final round of the stroke-play portion of the NCAA Division I Championships, Koivun tied for fourth as an individual. His finish in the top 10 gave him the 20th and final point he needed to earn PGA Tour privileges.

Koivun, a sophomore who won the Haskins Award a year ago as a freshman and ranks No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, could begin playing with full status on the tour as soon as these championships are over on Wednesday. But sticking to what he asserted previously, he said on Monday that he will definitely be back at Auburn for his junior season. “I will be returning,” Koivun said firmly.

“I think there's definitely some steps I need to take before I can come out here and compete with these guys week-in and week-out,” Koivun said in March when he earned his 19th point by making the cut in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

In deferring his card, Koivun joins Vanderbilt's Gordon Sargent, who completed his points chase at the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships, but opted to return to college play. The second player to prevail thorugh the Accelerated route, Florida State’s Luke Clanton, secured his card when he made the cut in February’s PGA Tour Cognizant Classic.

Sargent and Clanton are set to join the tour after this week, and both of their seasons are officially over. Clanton shot 76 in the final round on Monday to tie for 22nd, and the Seminoles, who lost to Auburn in the final last year, placed ninth, one shot out of getting into a playoff with Ole Miss for the final spot. Sargent struggled this college season and ultimately decided not to participate in the NCAA regionals for Vanderbilt. He was not ruled out if the Commodores reached the championships, but did not come with the team to La Costa.