AUBURN, Ala. – After a pair of national championships, three SEC individual titles and countless other program and NCAA records, Auburn’s Jackson Koivun announced Friday morning that he will forego his final season of collegiate eligibility to join the PGA Tour this summer.
Koivun is set to make his final appearance as an amateur next week at the 2026 U.S. Open. He will make his professional debut at the 2026 John Deere Classic, set for July 1-5 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois.
“I’m grateful to everyone at Auburn University for giving me an incredible college experience,” Koivun said. “Competing alongside my teammates, who are brothers for life, and helping bring home this program’s first two national championships has been a remarkable journey. But, as I look to continue my own golf journey, I have decided to forego my senior season at Auburn to pursue my lifelong dream of playing on the PGA Tour. I’m forever grateful for the tremendous support I’ve received from teammates, coaches, support staff, fans and – most importantly, my family – and I look forward to taking the next step in my career.”
Koivun earned his Tour membership at the end of his sophomore season through the PGA Tour U Accelerated program, which awards collegiate players with points based on outstanding accomplishments in the sport. Koivun deferred his membership a year to return to The Plains for the 2025-26 season. Now, at the end of his junior campaign, he has earned more than double the 20-point value required by the program for Tour membership.
The All-American hangs it up as undoubtedly the best player to ever don the Orange & Blue and one of the best ever to compete at the college level. His 11 wins rank first in program history, tied for first in Southeastern Conference history, and tied for seventh in NCAA history.
Earlier this spring, he became the first man to capture all three national player of the year awards (Haskins, Hogan, Nicklaus) twice, first sweeping all of them as a rookie in 2024 before completing the sweep once more as a junior this season.
Koivun departs the program as the active record-holder in 16 different categories: 54-hole tournament score (25-under-par), career scoring average (68.89), career sub-par rounds (87), career sub-70 rounds (62), career top 10s (34), career wins (11), single season scoring average (68.20), single season sub-par rounds (31), single season sub-70 rounds (26), single season top 10s (12), single season wins (6), single season birdies (196), freshman scoring average (69.48), freshman sub-par rounds (28), freshman sub-70 rounds (17) and freshman top 10s (12).
Both Koivun’s program bests for single season and career scoring average are also NCAA records.
The NorCal turned Chapel Hill, North Carolina native concludes his college career having finished top 10 or better in 87% of his 39 college starts. He finished outside the top 20 just twice. His list of career wins includes: the 2024, 2025 and 2026 SEC Championships, 2024 Pinehurst Intercollegiate, 2024 Inverness Intercollegiate, 2025 NCAA Auburn Regional, 2026 Amer Ari Invitational, 2026 Gator Invitational, 2026 The Hayt, 2026 Mason Rudolph Championship and finally, the 2026 Ford Collegiate.
Koivun also represented the United States on three occasions as an amateur, playing in both the 2024 and 2025 Arnold Palmer Cups as well as the 2025 Walker Cup, where he accounted for three points in the Americans’ 17-9 victory.