At John Deere Classic, golf’s future star enters Sunday lurking just out of sight

This week at the 2025 John Deere Classic started with talk of the big names in the field who wouldn’t normally stop at the Quad Cities for Fourth of July weekend.

Rickie Fowler hadn’t played the John Deere in 15 years before teeing it up Thursday. Max Homa’s search for his better golf self led him to TPC Deere Run. Tom Kim, Jason Day and Sungjae Im were also in the field. All of that led to the John Deere Classic’s strongest field in the Official World Golf Rankings era. Perhaps that’s an effect of the Signature Event model or a sign that a more competitive and leaner Tour forces bigger names to play more than they normally would and in different locales than their normal stomping grounds.

But while that sucked up all the early-week oxygen, the John Deere Classic’s real legacy was once again bubbling under the surface.

Since 1970, the John Deere Classic has produced 24 first-time winners, the most of any Tour stop. The John Deere Classic has a reputation for being a launching pad for the game’s next big stars. It is known for giving sponsor exemptions to top amateurs who later return to compete and sometimes win at TPC Deere Run.

Roger Maltbie and David Toms both got their first career wins at the Deere. Jordan Spieth’s 72nd-hole holeout to force a playoff and win in 2013 is the stuff of John Deere legend. Spieth, then 19, was a sponsor’s invite that week, and the win helped boost him toward stardom.

This week in the Quad Cities is no different. The field includes budding star Luke Clanton, who was a sponsor invitee as an amateur last year, and just recently turned pro. 2025 NCAA individual champion Michael La Sasso is in the field, as is 2025 Haskins Award winner David Ford and All-American Ben James.

Then there’s Jackson Koivun, who is ticketed to be one of golf’s next big stars once he leaves Auburn University and takes up the PGA Tour card that he earned through PGA Tour University Accelerated. Koivun, the No. 1 ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, became the first player to win all four major men’s college golf awards in one season last year, taking home the Haskins Award, Jack Nicklaus Award, Ben Hogan Award and Phil Mickelson Award.

Koivun has already made three PGA Tour starts this season. He made the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational before missing the cut by one at the U.S. Open.

Everything points to Koivun being the next big thing on the PGA Tour, and he arrived at TPC Deere Run with full knowledge of what the tournament and venue have meant to blossoming young guns who have come before him.

“It’s really cool to have a bunch of sponsor’s exemptions and amateurs play well here,” Koivun said on Wednesday. “It just shows that it’s doable. Just got to keep that in the back of my mind and trust my game and myself.”

Koivun opened with an unspectacular one-under-par round before putting together a blistering Friday effort that saw him make seven birdies while shooting a bogey-free 64 to vault into contention.

“I just got out on the first tee and felt good,” Koivun said of his Friday round. “Made some early birdies and just tried to keep the train going. Yesterday, I played really solid off the tee and had a lot of good looks.”

With winds swirling Saturday, Koivun ran into trouble early, making a double bogey at the par-4 sixth hole. But he responded with birdies at eight, 10, 11, 13 and 14. He stumbled with a bogey at 15 but erased it with another birdie at No. 17 to card a three-under 68 and get in the house at 11 under. He will start Sunday’s final round four shots back of leader and defending champion Davis Thompson.

Koivun ranks seventh in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee for the week and sixth in putting. His approach play (-2.148 shots per round) has been poor, but he will still have a chance Sunday to go low and join Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson and Nick Dunlap as the only amateurs to win on the PGA Tour since 1985.

“I’m just trying to climb up the leaderboard as much as I can every day,” Koivun said of his mindset entering Sunday. “I know if I go play well tomorrow, I can definitely get in contention. Just go out there and have fun.”

Free-wheeling fun is a luxury afforded to the youthful, both in life and in golf. Koivun, who has already committed to returning to Auburn for his junior season, doesn’t need to worry Sunday about FedEx Cup points or a last-minute dash to qualify for the Open Championship. He’s not playing to save his card, keep his career going or fight to return to a level he once occupied. He’s just playing golf, knowing that everything lies ahead of him.

It’s the gift of spectacular promise and a wide-open future that will be Koivun’s greatest asset Sunday when he tries to announce his arrival with a fury at TPC Deere Run.

Twenty players will start Sunday’s final round within five shots of Thompson’s lead, and Koivun, potentially the PGA Tour’s next big thing, has more in the tank than just about anyone on the leaderboard. He won’t enter Sunday in the spotlight. The focus will be on Thompson’s quest to repeat, Homa’s search for his old self and perhaps Matt Kuchar’s attempt to return to the winner’s circle for a final time.

But on a course that yields birdies, Koivun will have an opportunity to unleash his driver and try to go low in search of a win that would ignite his expected rise.

Much is expected of Jackson Koivun. On Sunday, he’ll have a chance to author a forceful opening chapter in his PGA Tour story. A story that is already overflowing with the type of promise that rarely comes around — the type of promise that often bubbles to the surface at the John Deere Classic.