After a historic amateur run, Jackson Koivun accepted PGA Tour membership recently and made his professional debut at the John Deere Classic. While he missed the cut at his debut event as a pro, he didn’t take much time to show everyone why he was a top amateur golfer.
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Playing at the 3M Open, his third start as a professional, Koivun is in contention to win. He has a three-stroke lead heading into the final round. Legendary coach Buddy Alexander, who was an assistant at Auburn University a few years back, explained the reason behind his dominance and compared him to Tiger Woods.
“Jackson’s the best putter I’ve ever seen,” Buddy Alexander said, according to an X post by Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. “His stroke is pretty much perfect. It kind of reminds me of some guy named Tiger Woods a little bit.”
Alexander has been deeply involved in elite amateur golf for decades. That’s why his comments on a “perfect” stroke are worth listening to. He coached Florida for 27 seasons and led the Gators to NCAA team titles in 1993 and 2001. During that span, the program piled up eight SEC championships under his watch. He was, in fact, named SEC Coach of the Year seven times and National Coach of the Year three times. The numbers back that up.
Tiger Woods previously held the long-standing NCAA 36-hole record in relation to par after shooting an 18-under 126 at the 1996 Pac-10 Championship in California. A mark matched by USC’s Sam Smith at the 2013 Pac-12 Championship. However, Jackson Koivun outdid him in February 2026 by scoring 20-under in 36 holes. He scored two rounds of 10-under 62 and became the only player to card two rounds of 62 or lower in the same NCAA event.
His teammates have seen his heroics in action.
“For someone who hits the ball as good as he does – and his dispersion is second to none,” said Koivun’s former Auburn teammate Josiah Gilbert. “Like he does not hit bad shots – he picks some of the safest targets out of anyone out there.”
His current season highlights the same dominance he has had in both approach to the green and putting. While playing at the 3M Open, the total strokes he gained across those two categories were nearly 13.5. His SG: Approach to Green is +7.965, while his SG: Putting is +5.468. In both those categories, he ranks second in the field.
Jackson Koivun started with an opening round of seven-under 64. The bogeyless round featured seven birdies. He followed it with a three-under 68, as he hit six birdies and three bogeys in Round 2. His best performance for the event so far came yesterday. While he started with only two birdies on the front nine, his back nine run was simply magical. Across the nine holes, he made four birdies and two eagles. This helped him card 10-under 61, as his cumulative score reached 20-under 193.
In fact, Koivun was so locked in and so controlled that Scottie Scheffler’s caddie left the tournament premises after watching him drive the green on the 16th hole in the final round. Scheffler still had a chance to head for a playoff if Koivun slipped up. But Scott was convinced that the 21-year-old is not going to buckle.
Both Koivun’s amateur journey and his short PGA Tour career so far show how much potential Jackson Koivun has. While Buddy Alexander is not wrong to compare him to Tiger Woods, Koivun now needs to prove that point on the professional circuit, too.