Yesterday, Jackson Koivun won the 3M Open in dominant fashion at the ripe old age of 21.

In the process, he held off a Sunday charge from Scottie Scheffler, set the tournament scoring record at 25-under, and joined a very short list of the youngest winners in PGA TOUR history.

It was an incredible performance, and golf social media has been on fire talking about him.

If you’re a casual golf fan, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s already been anointed as the next “chosen one.”

The truth is, nobody knows.

Sports fans love fortune telling. We love believing we can spot greatness before everyone else. Sometimes we can.

If you watched Derrick Henry run over high school defenders, you knew he was going pro one day. LeBron James was on national television before he could legally buy a lottery ticket. Bryce Harper landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16.

But there are plenty of times when fans and prognosticators get it wrong.

For every LeBron, there’s a Greg Oden. For every Bryce Harper, there’s a Todd Marinovich. For every can’t-miss prospect who becomes exactly what everyone expected, there are dozens who looked every bit as inevitable… until they weren’t.

Golf is no different.

Peter Uihlein was the No. 1 amateur in the world for longer than several eventual PGA TOUR winners. After winning the U.S. Amateur in 2010, many people thought he was the next great American star.

He’s never won on the PGA TOUR.

Matthew Wolff looked destined to become one of the game’s biggest names after winning on TOUR at 20 and finishing runner-up in both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship before turning 22.

Today, he’s trying to rebuild his career.

Even Jordan Spieth reminds us how dangerous expectations can be, to a certain degree.

Spieth won on the PGA TOUR at 19. By 23, he had already won three majors.

At the time, it felt almost impossible that he’d go through the next decade without adding another one.

Yet here we are.

Today is Spieth’s 33rd birthday, and those three majors are still the only ones on his résumé.

Golf has a funny way of humbling predictions. So, we won’t make any about Jackson Koivun.

Jackson Koivun might become the next Tiger Woods.

He might become the next Jordan Spieth.

He might become the next Peter Uihlein.

Or he might carve out an entirely different career that none of us could possibly predict today.

The only thing we know for sure is this:

Winning a PGA TOUR event at 21 while staring down Scottie Scheffler is ridiculously impressive.

What’s Next?

The Rocket Mortgage Classic, which has a loaded field this year.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Odds

  • Cameron Young (+1000)
  • Xander Schauffele (+1650)
  • Chris Gotterup (+1800)
  • Si Woo Kim (+1850)
  • Wyndham Clark (+1850)
  • Patrick Cantlay (+2150)
  • Jackson Koivun (+2300)
  • Russell Henley (+2400)
  • Ben Griffin (+2800)
  • J.J. Spaun (+3400)