'I just have a gut feeling’: Brandt Snedeker expecting big things from Jackson Koivun at Presidents Cup

Last month, sitting inside the Sedgefield Country Club, U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Brandt Snedeker vowed he would not pick a player simply to add youth to a veteran-laden squad.

“I'm not into, 'Oh, let's just take a young kid because we need a young kid on the team,'” Snedeker said. “That doesn't make any sense to me.”

Who Snedeker picked was going to be based on who he believed to be the best 12 Americans capable of defeating the Internationals at Medinah Country Club.

It was seen as a bad omen for the 21-year-old phenom Jackson Koivun. He had just won the 3M Open, but you could count his professional starts on one hand. Surely, Koivun couldn’t have done enough to get that nod amongst a deep stable of American talent.

On Tuesday evening, Snedeker made his bet: Koivun is young, he’s one of the 12 best Americans, and he will be part of the U.S. Team at Medinah.

“I don't know why I can't put my finger on it, I just have a gut feeling about this kid,” Snedker said. "We're going to put him in some tough situations for sure. He's going to have to rise to the occasion, but I'm fully expecting him to.”

Koivun was one of six captain’s picks made by Snedeker on Tuesday night. Chris Gotterup, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Jacob Bridgeman round out the squad.

Even if Snedeker’s motives remain unchanged, Koivun infuses the team with youth it hasn’t seen in more than a decade, and the selection is a gamble. Snedeker bypassed other players with lengthier resumes in favor of Koivun, who finished 48th in the points list.

Koivun is the youngest U.S. player at the Presidents Cup since Jordan Spieth in 2013. It’s a bet for this year, but it’s also an investment in the future. Koivun, fresh in his Tour career, is expected to make various U.S. teams for the next two decades.

The move is reminiscent of the European Ryder Cup team’s selection of Ludvig Åberg in 2023. Åberg was also a graduate of PGA Tour University and joined the Tour in the summer of 2023. He made a handful of starts in America before heading to Europe, where he earned his first professional win, convincing Captain Luke Donald to select him.

Since Snedeker’s initial comments, he played with Koivun in a practice round, and Koivun played on the top-70 bubble at the Wyndham Championship, pushing himself into the FedExCup Playoffs. With only five events to his name, he was the only player who had played fewer than 11 times to qualify. His season ended at the first Playoffs event, but the impression stuck with Snedeker.

Koivun’s amateur resume is impressive as they come. He was a three-time SEC Player of the Year who won nearly every award there is to win (multiple times). He earned his PGA Tour card before the end of his sophomore year via PGA Tour University Accelerated and deferred his status for a year, content to return to Auburn for his junior year. There, he won six times, further cementing himself as one of the best collegiate prospects ever. Amid those experiences, he also played a pivotal role in the U.S. Walker Cup Team’s win at Cypress Point.

“You're just going one-on-one against another person and may the best man win,” Koivun said. “It's always been something that's exciting for me.”

Then he turned pro and quickly won, staring down Scottie Scheffler at the 3M Open.

How big Koivun’s role will be remains to be seen. Snedeker said Koivun and Bridgeman were the last two players added to the team. That, in theory, could lead to less match involvement. However, the U.S. has traditionally played every player for at least three matches. Snedeker wasn’t shy about his expectations.

“I'm super excited for him to kind of show the world who he is,” Snedeker said.