Jackson Koivun’s first PGA Tour victory at the 2026 3M Open arrived with the kind of sudden force that still feels slightly unreal even days later. In only his third start as a professional, the 21-year-old former Auburn star
posted a tournament-record 25-under 259 at TPC Twin Cities, holding off world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler by three strokes. The performance featured a third-round 61 that included a back-nine 28 and a final-round bogey-free 66 under the pressure of a Sunday lead and a charging Scheffler.
The win delivered $1.584 million, a two-year exemption, and an immediate place in the FedEx Cup conversation. It also triggered the inevitable flood of messages that accompany any breakthrough of that magnitude.
Speaking on the Rich Eisen Show ahead of the Rocket Classic, Koivun described the aftermath of that Sunday evening in Minnesota. His phone, he said, contained somewhere between 250 and 300 congratulatory
texts once he finally had a chance to look at it. Among the messages from friends, family, former teammates, and golfers he had long admired were notes from Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel, and Russell Henley.
Those names already carried weight for a young player who had grown up watching the PGA Tour. What stood out even more, however, was a pair of calls arranged by his agent, who had previously worked in basketball.
The agent reached out to Chris Paul and Steph Curry. Both stars took the time to speak with the newly minted Tour winner.
Koivun’s account of the conversation with Curry was characteristically understated. The call was not long. Curry offered congratulations, said he had been impressed by the way Koivun handled himself throughout the week
and especially on Sunday, and left him with a series of kind, encouraging words. Koivun expressed simple appreciation for the gesture. In an era when elite athletes are often insulated by layers
of management and public-relations machinery, a direct phone call from one of the most recognizable figures in global sport still registers as meaningful. Curry’s reputation as both a transcendent basketball player and an enthusiastic golfer made the contact feel particularly fitting.
The Golden State Warriors star has long treated golf as more than a casual hobby; he has competed in high-profile events, spoken openly about the mental overlap between the two sports, and maintained relationships across the golf world.
Hearing from him so soon after a career-defining win carried a quiet validation that transcended ordinary congratulatory noise.
The broader context of Koivun’s rapid rise helps explain why the call mattered. As an amateur he compiled one of the strongest college résumés in modern memory. He swept the
major individual awards, led Auburn to multiple NCAA titles, and established scoring records that still stand out on the historical lists. Turning professional after the 2026 U.S. Open and winning
so quickly validated years of quiet belief among those who had watched him closely. Yet the transition from college star to PGA Tour winner is never purely athletic. It involves
sudden visibility, new expectations, and the realization that the circle of people paying attention has expanded far beyond the usual golf audience. A call from Curry represented one visible marker of that expansion.
Koivun’s description of the exchange also revealed something about his own temperament. He did not attempt to inflate the conversation into something larger than it was. He noted its brevity, summarized the content accurately, and moved on.
The same composure that allowed him to ignore crowd chants about Scheffler’s charge on the back nine appeared again in the way he discussed the celebrity attention. There was no manufactured drama, no attempt to
position himself as suddenly part of a different social orbit. He simply acknowledged that it was cool, that he appreciated the words, and that the support from both basketball and golf figures had registered.
That measured response fits the larger pattern of his early professional weeks. After the 3M Open he spoke about the mental anchors he carries on his glove—confidence, trust, dominate—habits developed in college and carried forward without theatrical reinvention.
He has spoken about the practical work of answering messages, the slight guilt of not responding to every single one, and the ongoing process of letting the win settle. The phone call
with Curry sits inside that same understated frame: a notable moment, gratefully received, and then folded into the larger work of preparing for the next tournament.
The intersection of basketball and golf has grown more visible in recent years. Several NBA players maintain serious golf games, and a number of golfers follow basketball with genuine interest. Curry occupies a unique place in that overlap.
His shooting stroke has been analyzed for its transferability to putting and iron play; his competitive mindset has been cited by golfers who see parallels in the pressure of late-game moments.
When a young player like Koivun receives direct encouragement from someone of Curry’s stature, it functions as more than a celebrity cameo. It suggests that the performance itself—its poise, its scoring quality, its refusal to unravel under pressure—had been noticed outside the usual golf channels.
For Koivun the practical implications remain straightforward. The two-year exemption and the FedEx Cup positioning give him a platform to build on. The attention from figures like Curry, Paul, and established Tour players provides an informal
network of encouragement that many young professionals never receive so early. Yet the work itself has not changed. The next start will still require the same preparation, the same focus on process, and the same ability to quiet external noise.
The phone call does not alter the difficulty of the shots that remain to be hit; it simply adds one more data point confirming that those shots, when hit well, register across sports.
In the days since the Rich Eisen interview, the anecdote has circulated as a light, positive footnote to an already impressive debut. It requires no conspiracy theories, no hidden drama, and no exaggeration.
A 21-year-old won a PGA Tour event in dominant fashion. His phone filled with messages. His agent facilitated conversations with two NBA stars. One of those stars, Steph Curry, offered
congratulations and specific praise for how the young golfer had carried himself. Koivun relayed the exchange with characteristic restraint. The story needs nothing more than that to remain interesting.
What it does illustrate is the quiet widening of Koivun’s world. College golf, even at the highest level, operates inside a relatively contained ecosystem. The PGA Tour expands that ecosystem immediately.
When the expansion includes direct contact from athletes whose own careers have redefined excellence in another sport, the moment acquires a particular resonance. Curry’s words were simple—congratulations, impression with the
composure, kind encouragement—yet they arrived at the precise time when a young player is most likely to benefit from external affirmation that the path he is on is visible and valued.
Koivun will face harder tests than a Sunday lead over Scheffler. The schedule will lengthen, the scrutiny will intensify, and the expectations that accompany early success will arrive in full. The phone call does not shield him from any of that.
It does, however, offer a small, concrete reminder that excellence in one domain can still be recognized and celebrated by those who have achieved it in another. In an age of carefully managed public images
and algorithmic attention, a short, sincere conversation between a newly minted Tour winner and one of basketball’s defining figures retains a refreshing directness. Koivun’s account of it preserved that directness. The rest of his career
will determine how far the early promise extends, but the first chapter already contains moments—on the course and off it—that mark the arrival of a player worth watching closely.