Jackson Koivun did a bit more than win his first PGA Tour title on July 26 at the 3M Open, in his third professional start.
The former Auburn star, who led the Tigers to two national championships in the last three years, earned 500 FedEx Cup points for winning and put himself right on the FedEx Cup playoff bubble.
Koivun is 70th on the points list with 525.2 points. That’s the final spot that will qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in two weeks after the final two regular-season events, the Rocket Classic in Detroit (July 30-Aug. 2) and the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. (Aug. 6-9).
The top 70 will advance to the first of three playoff events, Aug. 13-16 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Koivun’s lead isn’t much. He’s 2.695 points ahead of No. 71 Andrew Putnam, 20.08 points clear of No. 72 Mac Meissner and 36.669 points ahead of No. 73 Johnny Keefer.
If Koivun misses the cut this week at the Detroit Golf Club, players down to No. 111 Mark Hubbard could pass him with a top-10 finish or better. The list includes No. 97 Ben Kohles of Jacksonville, No. 102 Billy Horschel of Ponte Vedra Beach and No. 105 Chandler Blanchet of Atlantic Beach.
Scottie Scheffler, who led the FedEx Cup points list through the end of the regular season three of the last four years (winning in 2024), posted his fifth runner-up finish and 11th top-10 at the 3M Open and remains comfortably ahead on the points list. Scheffler is up 794 points over Matt Fitzpatrick and 1,037 over Cameron Young.
The only movement among the points leaders was Gary Woodland going from 29th to 25th with a top-10 at the 3M Open, and Hideki Matsuyama going from 37th to 36th with a tie for third.
Scheffler isn’t scheduled to play again until the St. Jude Classic, and his closest pursuers are evidently conceding him another regular-season title. Fitzpatrick isn’t entered this week and Young, who is playing the next two weeks, couldn’t catch Scheffler if he won both to earn a maximum of 1,000 points.
There could be some jockeying behind Scheffler this week. The Rocket Classic has a decent field, drawing 22 of the top-50 on the points list, led by Young, No. 4 Wyndham Clark, No. 7 Si Woo Kim and No. 12 Akshay Bhati.
FedEx Cup subplot: Career money chase
One of the longest-standing PGA Tour milestones could be taken down during the first two events of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Tiger Woods has been the PGA Tour’s career money leader since 2000 and has $120,999,166. Rory McIlroy and Scheffler could chase him down at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and the BMW Championship.
McIlroy is in second place, slightly more than $4.5 million behind Woods, and Scheffler is third, $82,361 behind McIlroy. With $40 million up for grabs in the first two legs of the playoffs ($3.6 million for the winner of each event), McIlroy or Scheffler could pull ahead of Woods.
The $40 million purse and $10 million for the winner in the Tour Championship is not counted as official money.
Purses being what they are, McIlroy and Scheffler will almost certainly pass Woods early next season, if not this year.
Entering the playoffs, Woods will have been the Tour’s career money leader for 26 years and six months. At the time he passed Davis Love III with a runnerup at Torrey Pines in February of 2000, Woods had just under $13 million in earnings.
PGA Tour Napa event has new sponsor
There’s a new title sponsor for the PGA Tour event in Napa, Calif. that also carries over to the new version of the Tour’s competitive structure.
Sompo, a property and casualty company based in Japan, will be the title sponsor for the Tour’s fall event at the Silverado Resort in Napa for 2027. The deal will transition to 2028 as part of the PGA Tour Championship Series. The 2028 tournament will be at a new venue that has yet to be announced and will be part of the PGA Tour’s “Championship Series,” featuring larger purses and more of the top players in the field.
The Sompo-sponsored event will be July 29-Aug. 1, 2027 at Silverado. It will be aired on CBS as a 72-hole, full-field event as part of the FedEx Cup schedule. Silverado has hosted a fall event since 2014.
Earlier in the week, the Tour announced that The Travelers, it’s event near Hartford, Conn., will be part of the Championship Series. Aside from the major championships and The Players, The Travelers and the Napa, Calif., event are the first tournaments announced for the new series.
PGA Tour
Event: Rocket Classic, July 29-Aug. 2, Detroit Golf Club.
Purse: $10 million ($1.8 million and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner.
Defending champion: Aldrich Potgieter.
TV: Golf Channel (July 30-31, 3-6 p.m.; Aug 1-2, 1-3 p.m.); CBS (Aug. 1-2, 3-6 p.m.).
Area players: Chandler Blanchet, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Harris English, Lanto Griffin, Billy Horschel, Patton Kizzire, Ben Kohles, Andrew Novak, Davis Thompson, Michael Thorbjornsen, Alejandro Tosti, Karl Vilips, Danny Walker.
LPGA
Event: AIG Women’s Open Championship, July 30-Aug. 2, Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England.
Purse: $10 million ($1.5 million to the winner).
Defending champion: Miyu Yamashita.
Area players: Chella Choi.
TV: USA (July 30-31, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.; Aug. 1-2, 7 a.m.-12 p.m.); NBC (Aug. 1-2, 12-2 p.m.).
PGA Tour Champions
Event: Portugal Invitational, July 31-Aug. 2, The Els Club Vilamoura, Vilamoura, Portugal.
Purse: $3 million ($450,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: First-year event.
Area players: David Duval, Fred Funk, Zach Johnson.
TV: Golf Channel (July 31-Aug. 2, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.).
Korn Ferry Tour
Event: Utah Championship, July 30-Aug. 2, Ogden Golf and Country Club, Ogden, Utah.
Purse: $1 million ($180,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Julian Suri.
Area players: Tyson Alexander, Sebastian Cappelen, Nick Gabrelcik, Will Gordon, Philip Knowles, Russell Knox, Ben Kohles, Rick Lamb, Doc Redman, Julian Suri, Travis Trace, Carl Yuan.
TV: Golf Channel (July 30-Aug. 2, 6-9 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jackson Koivun’s victory at 3M Open puts him on FedEx Cup bubble
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
