MEDINAH, IL — About the only thing that has rattled Jackson Koivun since turning professional was a phone call from U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker informing him that he’d made the team.
“I think I shellshocked him when I called him,” Snedeker said. “I was expecting a little bit more excitement coming out of him.”
At 21, Koivun is the second-youngest American player in Presidents Cup history behind only Jordan Spieth, who was 20 in 2013, and the sixth-youngest competitor overall.
On Thursday at Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 3, he showed exactly why Snedeker was willing to take a chance on him. Koivun teamed with Justin Thomas to defeat Colombia’s Nico Echavarria and Canada’s Corey Conners, 4 and 3, in four-ball competition.
“To me, the bigger the spotlight, the more he shines,” said longtime swing coach Fred Garcia. “He’s not afraid of the big moments.”
Snedeker wisely paired the rookie with Thomas, who improved to 7-0 in four-ball matches in his Presidents Cup career. On paper, pairing Thomas, an Alabama alum, with Koivun, a two-time national champion at Auburn, might have seemed risky. This week, none of that matters.
“We’re on the same team and we’re going to go fight for the USA,” Koivun said.
Thomas, 33, has gone from pupil to mentor. He was shepherded through team competitions by Rickie Fowler at the 2017 Presidents Cup, Jordan Spieth during his 2018 Ryder Cup debut and Tiger Woods in 2019 at the Presidents Cup.
Thomas and Koivun share an agent, Excel Sports Management’s Lance Young. They played practice rounds together the past two years when Koivun qualified for the U.S. Open, and Thomas became a sounding board as Koivun weighed the decision of when to leave Auburn and turn pro.
“I love him to death, but I hate to do it to an Auburn kid,” Thomas joked. “I want to be there to help any kid that’s kind of going through what he was going through. I think the decision of turning pro and staying in school was hard.
“He’s a great teammate, and he didn’t know what was right, what was wrong, so on and so forth. I just wanted him to know that if he wanted somebody to bounce things off of, I was here. I feel like he did that, and a lot of people in his position wouldn’t have.”
Koivun turned pro after the U.S. Open and won the 3M Open in just his third PGA Tour start. He qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in only five starts.
Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun get the first points on the board for the U.S. Team 🔥⬇️ pic.twitter.com/lFKP95EJTQ
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 24, 2026
Before using one of his six captain’s picks on Koivun, Snedeker did his homework, passing over more established options such as major champions J.J. Spaun, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
“I spent a lot of time talking to people who know him and who coached him and have spent time with him,” Snedeker said. “Every conversation I had, I came away more impressed.”
This week, Koivun has done his best to blend in with the players he grew up watching.
When Team USA’s rookies were forced to perform karaoke, he chose Kanye West’s “Heartless.” When teammates convinced the lone bachelor on the squad to pose for a photo with the wives and significant others of U.S. players and captains, Koivun blushed, laughed and watched the image go viral.
“He’s been funny. Slowly opening up to us,” Xander Schauffele said. “My goal is just to get him to laugh, try and get him to open up and get comfortable knowing that we all have his back and that he’ll have ours, too.”
When it came time for golf, Koivun wasted little time looking comfortable.
Jackson Koivun is biggest curiosity at Presidents Cup and he’s holding his own
He split the first fairway with his opening tee shot. There was a shaky moment at the second hole when he snap-hooked a drive out of bounds, but he responded with a birdie at the par-5 third to win the hole and settle his nerves. He ranked as the top putter of the 20 golfers who played on Thursday.
Koivun then stuffed a pitch shot at the par-5 sixth to set up another birdie as the Americans raced to a 3-up lead through six holes.
Koivun and Thomas complemented each other throughout the match, preventing Conners, who remains winless in four career Presidents Cup four-ball matches, and the debuting Echavarria from making a serious charge.
“Anytime you can put up a point for Team USA, it’s good,” Koivun said. “First two holes definitely a little shaky, but after that kind of found a groove. Me and JT, we played really well out there. He picked me up when I didn’t play too hot, so thankful for that, but we had a fun time.”
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour and the 2026 Presidents Cup.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jackson Koivun passes first Presidents Cup test alongside Justin Thomas
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