As if there was any doubt.
The Golf Coaches Association of America named Jackson Koivun the 2024 Phil Mickelson Award winner on Thursday, the award given to the top freshman in the nation. And it’s well deserved, considering Koivun is the national player of the year and may sweep all of the major awards.
Last week, he was awarded the Ben Hogan Award. On Tuesday, he earned the Heisman Trophy of college golf, the Fred Haskins Award. Next week, there’s a good chance he could win the Nicklaus Award.
Oh, and who could forget what he did Wednesday, helping guide Auburn to its first national championship in school history, going 3-0 in match play after a T-2 finish during stroke play at Omni La Costa’s North Course in Carlsbad, California.
His performance in match play, which included a 21-hole semifinal victory to send the Tigers to the championship match, earned him MVP honors on Golfweek‘s All-NCAA Golf Championship match play teams.
This year, Koivun had two victories, including the SEC Championship. He finished in the top 10 in 12 of his 13 stroke-play starts and had the lowest adjusted scoring average (67.3) in Division I. He was also 7-0 in match play this year, helping guide Auburn to 10 tournament victories.
This summer, he’ll represent the United States on the Arnold Palmer Cup team and will be one of the favorites at the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minnesota.
As for his first college season? It was stellar.
