Jackson Koivun won’t be a full-time PGA Tour member until at least next summer, but the 20-year-old amateur has spent this summer getting acquainted with his future tour. The Auburn star, who has already earned his PGA Tour card through PGA Tour University Accelerated, has played in six PGA Tour events this season and made five cuts, including a T6 finish at the ISCO Championship and a T11 at the John Deere Classic.
Koivun skipped the Western Amateur this week in favor of teeing it up in the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale before the FedEx Cup Playoffs start next week in Memphis.
Koivun made the cut and then fired a five-under 65 on Saturday to move inside the top 10 on the leaderboard. But with so many in the field scratching and clawing to find a way inside the top 70 to extend their season, Koivun is seeing a different side of Tour life in Greensboro — the desperate side.
“It’s just stressful,” Koivun told CBS’ Amanda Balionis after the round of how different this week in Greensboro is as guys fight for their jobs. “Playing alongside some of these guys who are playing for a job, playing to keep playing this year, it’s definitely eye-opening. Just something take in.”
After this week, only the top 70 in the standings will advance to the FedEx St. Jude in Memphis. The top 50 after next week will move on to the BMW Championship. That ticket to the second playoff event also comes with a ticket to all of the Signature Events next season.
There’s even more than a spot in the top 70 on the line this week in Greensboro.
With the PGA Tour reducing its number of fully-exempt players from 125 to 100 next year, players like Joel Dahmen, who entered the week outside the top 100, are looking for a good finish to push them on the other side of that fully-exempt line as the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall schedule nears. The top-100 cutoff won’t be made until after the RSM Classic in November, but a strong finish at the Wyndham, even if it doesn’t move you inside the top 70, will go a long way.
Koivun is getting a dose of PGA Tour reality this week.
Many players who earned their card last year, like Matt McCarty and William Mouw, will now likely head into a fall season that will be pressure-packed as they fight to hold onto their PGA Tour card. Meanwhile, pros like Max Homa and Adam Scott, who are exempt but will miss the playoffs, will now have to rely on sponsor exemptions to get into the Signature Events or try to play their way in via the AON swing system.
Koivun has deferred his PGA Tour card for a year as he heads back to Auburn for his junior season. But this will be his life soon enough.
It has been a, ‘So, this is what you want?’ week for Koivun.
And while the desperation in Greensboro has been a little jarring, the No. 1 amateur in the World Amateur Golf Rankings is still champing at the bit to be a pro and realize his dream.
“Yeah,” Koivun said with a smile when asked if he still wanted the Tour life.
He’ll get there soon enough, and the Wyndham Championship has given him a needed view of the other side of the coin and an understanding of how tough things can get on the PGA Tour when things don’t go your way.
