With Jackson Koivun winning the 3M Open, golf experts now believe he has made the case to make the President’s Cup team. He needs captain Jim Furyk to select him as one of the six captain’s picks to make the roster. Koivun’s start at the 3M Open was the third of his professional career and 11th overall including amateur appearances.
Joel Bell of Golf Digest asks, “Deserving pick, for a U.S. team that already has its top nine mostly spoken for? Or a headline-chasing, prisoner-of-the-moment selection, the kind this game makes in July and spends every fall picking apart?”
As Bell implies, the President Cup for the United States team is a preparation event for the Ryder Cup. That means some captain picks slots go to players on the fringes to see how they will perform in the setting.
Koivun projects to be a player much greater than that in the near future, perhaps even right now. That’s what this victory at the 3M Open does for Koivun: it elevates his status as one of the great prospects in golf. He has become the hottest topic in the sport in the blink of an eye.
Jackson Koivun’s 3M Open Win a Potential Seminal Event
Jackson Koivun was already one of the greatest prospects golf has ever seen, but his win now solidifies how special he may be at the next level.
There is clear case for Koivun to play at Medinah Country Club. However, some people may believe he is taking a spot away from a more deserving candidate.
Bell says, “The tour will tell you, and not quietly, that the Presidents Cup is not an audition. It has its own case for existing on its own terms, and every year someone tries to shrink it down to a proving ground, the people running it bristle. Fair enough. But wanting an identity and functioning as a pipeline were never actually in conflict. The Presidents Cup can hold onto both, and picking Koivun doesn’t cost it anything.”
DataGolf ranks Koivun as the 30th best player in the world after his 3m Open win. Other President’s Cup candidates in that range: Ryan Gerard, Justin Thomas, Maverick McNealy, Kurt Kitayama, Harris English, Akshay Bhatia, and Jacob Bridgeman. He only ranks behind five of those names on DataGolf.
Evaluating President’s Cup Chances
Koivun has a few names to beat, but that should not be an issue given the current climate.
It’s unlikely that anything drastic should keep Koivun off the team. The chances of him making the team appear very high unless he starts missing cuts. Even then, he appears to be a virtual lock.
Ryder Cup stalwarts Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay may not be in the form to deserve a spot. If this was a Ryder Cup, perhaps that would be different, but DeChambeau missed three cuts at majors this year. Also, Cantlay has not won in almost four years.
If he does win before the team is announced, maybe Cantlay will make the team. The other names mentioned earlier also need a great performance in the FedEx Cup playoffs to make a spot on merit.
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