Jackson Koivun has already beaten the world No. 1. But at the Presidents Cup, the 21-year-old rookie faced a very different kind of pressure. A familiar team-photo tradition had suddenly put him in the spotlight, and his nervous reaction had golf fans remembering players who had been in the same position before.
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The 21-year-old Presidents Cup rookie did not have a date for the official team photo at the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club in Bloomingdale, Illinois. So, the PGA Tour had him pose with the partners of his Team USA teammates instead. A video shared by NUCLR GOLF on X on September 23 showed Koivun looking visibly nervous and smiling through the awkward but lighthearted moment. As the youngest player on the American team, he clearly was not expecting to become the center of attention like this.
The reaction from golf fans came almost instantly. Many had seen this scene before, and there was a good reason it looked so familiar.
The tradition goes back to the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota. Rickie Fowler was the bachelor on the U.S. team and ended up posing with his teammates’ partners for the official team photo. The picture quickly became one of the fun off-course moments from that Ryder Cup. Fowler handled the situation with a smile, which made the whole thing even more entertaining. It was also a pleasant reminder that even top golfers can find themselves in awkward and funny situations.
Golf is usually about competition and pressure, so moments like this can make a big team event feel more fun and relatable.
The tradition returned at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome. Viktor Hovland found himself in the same situation. The 25-year-old Norwegian did not have a partner, so he posed with his European teammates’ wives and girlfriends for the team photo.
Hovland handled the moment with a smile, and the photo quickly became another fun moment that fans shared across golf social media. Hovland reprised the role at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black as well, making him the only player in recent memory to hold the bachelor spot at consecutive Ryder Cups. That consistency gave the tradition a name and a face that fans immediately associate with it.
Now it has a new one. The nerves in the photo are understandable in context. Koivun has had one of the most remarkable rises in recent PGA Tour history. He turned professional in June 2026 after an extraordinary college career at Auburn, three-time SEC Player of the Year, two-time national Player of the Year, and the first golfer in NCAA history to achieve both in the same season. Just three starts into his professional career, he won the 3M Open in July, beating world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler by three shots and setting a new tournament scoring record.
By September, U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker had seen enough. Captain Brandt Snedeker chose Koivun as one of his six picks for the Presidents Cup team at Medinah, joining Chris Gotterup, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Jacob Bridgeman, and Justin Thomas. At 21, he became the second-youngest American ever to make a Presidents Cup team, trailing only Jordan Spieth, who debuted at 20 in 2013. None of that resume, impressive as it is, quite prepares you for being lined up between your teammates’ partners while a camera crew films the whole thing.
Fowler, for what it’s worth, went 3-1-1 at the 2016 Ryder Cup, one of the stronger individual records on a U.S. team that won 17-11. Hovland has been one of Europe’s most reliable performers across his two Ryder Cup appearances. The bachelor photo has a decent track record of preceding powerful performances. Koivun’s week at Medinah starts in earnest with competition beginning September 24. The nerves in front of the camera were real. Whether they follow him onto the course is the question everyone at Medinah will be watching closely.