Amateur Jackson Koivun is four shots off the lead at 2025 John Deere Classic after 54 holes
The amateur from Auburn fired a third-round 68 to follow up scores of 70-64 at the 2025 John Deere Classic. That has him at 11 under and in a tie for 10th at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois.
This tournament has a PGA Tour-best 24 first-time winners (since 1970). It also boasts the only teenage victory (Jordan Spieth, 2013) as well as one of the Tour's 14 59s (Paul Goydos, 2010). With those kind of superlatives, having an amateur win would just be another notch in its belt.
But first, there are still 18 holes to play, and Koivun does have nine guys ahead of him on the leaderboard, not to mention the four others he's tied with. Still, the kid is having a great week.
"I'm just trying to climb up the leaderboard as much as I can every day," he said. "I know if I go play well tomorrow I can definitely get in contention."
Koivun earned his PGA Tour card after his finish at the NCAAs in early June, but he's choosing to defer his status until 2026. He'll be a junior at Auburn this fall. This week marks his sixth PGA Tour start and third this season. So far he has two made cuts and a missed cut at the U.S. Open.
Nick Dunlap is the most recent amateur to win a PGA Tour event, doing so at the 2024 American Express. There been eight all-time. Koivun says he and Dunlap are good friends.
"Nick is a great dude and I played a lot of golf with him. It's obviously very inspiring to see what he did about a year ago now. Obviously to be one the few ams to win a professional event would be great. At the end of the day I just got to go give it my best shot and be happy with the result."
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