Ladies and gentlemen,

Jackson Koivun just won the 3M Open over a pretty strong field (Scottie Scheffler and Co.), and heads to the Rocket Classic with the 4TH BEST ODDS TO WIN IT alongside Wyndham Clark and Si Woo Kim… WHAT?

He’s behind only Cameron Young, Chris Gotterup, and Xander Schauffele.

High praise, but he played some serious golf last weekend.

NOTE: by the time this newsletter hits your inbox, about 2 hours of golf will have already been played. My picks remain. ENJOY!

I like the kid.

One, he’s an Auburn Tiger (wife’s Alma Mater). I’m still a hog fan at heart, but this gives me another reason to tune in as though I wasn’t already tuned all the way in.

He’s poised, obviously an incredible golfer, and seems like a likable enough guy. Not a ton of personality YET, though his Malbon partnership does give him some elevated swag.

I want him to win another event this year. I want him to be a Captain’s Pick for the President’s Cup, where the U.S. battles the international team.

I want him to win 3x or more next year — kind of a Chris Gotterup trajectory in his first couple years on tour (though I think his ceiling is even higher).

I want Koivun to have won 10 times before he turns 24. I want him to have 20 by the time he’s 27. 30 by 30!

I’M OPTIMISTIC WHAT CAN I SAY? I WANT TO WITNESS GREATNESS, SUE ME!

If I had it my way, I’d want the next 10 years to be marked by Scottie v Koivun matchups down to the wire every single Sunday, and they stack an absurd number of wins.

It’s not because I LOOOOVE these guys. It’s because I want to witness greatness. I want to witness player-owned eras. I was just too young and too late getting into golf to really lock into the Tiger era. I feel like despite his string of runner ups, we’re in the Scottie Scheffler era right now, but without the wins, the storyline is diluting a little bit.

I watch these tournaments, and I think to myself… if this field played this tournament 10 times in a row, my guess is scottie would finish top 5 in maybe nine of them, and he’d probably win six or seven times. Would Koivun win again if they played the tournament 9 more times? Maybe so! Maybe even twice.

Would Hideki? Maybe… More often than not, Sunday would come down to Scottie Scheffler and a new challenger. Because golf is so so hard to repeatedly be good at week in and week out, and Scottie (relatively speaking) is the lone consistent when it comes to Sunday opportunity.

Hypotheticals, hypotheticals, yeah yeah, whatever. Doesn’t matter, didn’t happen. RIGHT, BUT it’s simply crazy how well Scottie is playing this year with only 1 win (and of course $17 Million dollars) to show for it.

Because again, it’s all about who brings their best stuff in that weekend. Scottie played great ball, but that’s never enough. Not only do you have to have great stuff, you have to hope that no one else has their very best stuff too.

I’ve been beating the dead horse with this one, so I’ll try to refrain from going on and on about it.

Cam Young feels a bit like this week’s 3M Scottie — I would say by a decent margin the best golfer in the field, though Gotterup is balling and Xander is still Xander despite the murmurs in the street.

Wyndham is always a threat to go low on any given day, and despite Si Woo not getting a win this year, he’s playing excellent golf. 7th in FedExCup points.

I would be surprised, though not shocked if Koivun rattles off a second win in a row. It would send the golf world into a panic. I would be panicking.

I would start saying he’s a top 10 player in the game right now. I would be uttering probably even more ridiculous things if he won.

Akshay Bhatia clocks in at 12 in FEC points, with a win under his belt and a handful of top 5 finishes.

I just love Jake Knapp. In his first 8 events, he finished 7 of them T-11 or better. He was a Top-10 machine. Then he sprains his left thumb, he’s got to sit out for 2 months, and he’s had a rougher go getting back into the game.

A T-13 at the 3M showed signs of getting back to form, and I’d love to see him in the mix late Sunday. As many Jake Knapp swings as they’ll show on TV, I’ll watch.

If I had to pick 5 guys, I’m going with:

Xander still out of form, Wyndham has cooled off.

WHO YOU GOT?

CHEERS,

Luke Mangan
On Golf