There's Something About Jackson

Welcome to The Debrief, Box Score's freewheeling conversation about the sports we love that starts right when the action stops.

Doug Smith
Former mini-tour player and now a broadcaster for PGA Tour Live and Golf Channel. Doug is also the co-host of the podcast Beyond the Fairway with Will Lowery. The Versailles, Kentucky, native was the first Black player in the history of the Louisville golf team.

George Willis
The Las Cruces, New Mexico, native has had a long and distinguished career as a sports columnist. During a career that has included stints with both the New York Times and the New York Post, George has covered 58 men's major golf championships, eight Ryder Cups and two Presidents Cups.

Farrell Evans
Box Score co-founder, former Sports Illustrated golf writer and the executive producer of The Land We Share, a documentary about the intimate bonds between the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and the Shinnecock Indian Nation.

Jackson Koivun, a 21-year-old rookie barely out of Auburn, outlasted Scottie Scheffler to win his first PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. What do you think about his chances of becoming a bona fide star in the game?

Doug Smith: I think he's already a bona fide star in the game. Look at what he's done in college — NCAA tournaments, three-time SEC championship winner — and look at just how he's poised. Think about all the money that was thrown at Jackson coming out, from the Adidas or the Nikes of the world. Instead, this guy signs with Malbon, which I think is a really cool boutique signing, because what it says is, "I'm going to be a world-beater, and I'm going to bring some people along with me, and I'm going to do it with some style." But look at what he did on the golf course — he had Scottie Scheffler breathing down his neck. People expect big things from Jackson Koivun, and he delivered in just his fourth start as a PGA Tour professional. It also goes to show how valuable the PGA Tour University program is — these guys are coming out ready to win. 

George Willis: He was certainly very impressive having to sit on the lead getting ready to win his first PGA Tour event. And you wake up and birdie the first hole the way he did — that was impressive in itself. From there, he showed no nerves at all. Even when Scottie put a little heat on him, he didn't seem to flinch. He played a dominant game and closed it out in tremendous fashion. But now the eyeballs are really going to be on him, and it gets a little tougher. It's not like a lot of these guys who've been heralded out of college and won their first PGA Tour event go on to dominate — there's a long way to go before that starts to happen. But he was very impressive, and he's part of the young group that's coming out. The future of the PGA Tour looks bright. He's certainly going to captivate a nice audience for the Tour. They need somebody like that to bring in the younger golfers, the younger eyeballs, the young ladies — everybody — into the game. So he's going to be a very valuable commodity for the PGA Tour.

Farrell Evans: Jackson joins a big group of 20-somethings who are going to make a lot of money on the PGA Tour, on and off the golf course. But he's a long way from showing me he's going to be a dominant player. There are just so many good players. To Doug's point, he is a star — but is he going to be a regular top-10 guy? Is he going to be there every week? I want to give him a year on Tour. I want to see how he shows up at Augusta, how he shows up at the top events. He's up to 70th now, so we'll see if he makes it to East Lake. If he makes the top 30 and gets to East Lake, he could possibly win there.

Scottie Scheffler got his fifth runner-up finish of the season at the 3M. He shot a final-round 63. He's had 11 top-five finishes in 17 events on the year. Even with just one victory on the season and no majors, is he still the Player of the Year in your mind? And if not him, who would it be?

George Willis: I think Matt Fitzpatrick is in the mix, depending on how his season finishes up. Maybe Cameron Young. As for the majors this year, you had four different winners, and although they were all pretty good stories, none of them dominated the year. Scottie has had a pretty solid year. He's only had the one win, but what we saw Sunday was basically what we've seen most of the season: in the middle of the pack the first couple of rounds, then making a charge late and burning the lips of putts everywhere. The key putt was 14. If he makes that putt, it might be a different ballgame. But he missed it.

Farrell Evans: For me it's Scheffler, because of his consistency and his presence on the leaderboard — five runner-up finishes. I like Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup, and Cameron Young, too, if one of those guys goes and wins the whole thing at East Lake. But if Scottie goes there and wins the FedEx Cup, he'll have two wins on the year, plus the FedEx Cup and more money than anybody else. I think you have to go with Scottie.

Doug Smith: I like the story of Matt Fitzpatrick winning alongside his brother and getting his brother Tour status, but for the year I think it's between Scottie, Cam Young and Chris Gotterup.

At the 3M Open, Lucas Glover was called out for making spike marks with his metal spikes, so he took off his shoes before retrieving his ball from the cup. Lucas is known for hating the AimPoint putting method and all the stomping around the hole it causes. Should AimPoint and metal spikes both be outlawed?

Doug Smith: I was on the call for that in “featured holes,” and we didn't know what the hell was going on live. We had to turn to Twitter to figure out what that meant. Look, I don't care. I don't think AimPoint slows play down. I think people are just f—ing slow. If they want to do something about it, they can, but they haven't addressed it. If Lucas wants to protest, that's his prerogative. If he wants to give a middle finger to people talking smack about him, I love it. I love when people make a statement. He did it quietly — he wasn't loud, he wasn't boisterous. He just took his shoes off and went and got his ball out of the hole.

Farrell Evans: I thought Lucas Glover was a little passive-aggressive. He's been railing against AimPoint. I don't like AimPoint. Ryan Fox took 22 seconds to make a putt to win the Open Championship. People like Doug Smith's generation, they know everything about the golf swing. They dream about Trackman, they spend all this time with technology. AimPoint, Decade, all of that stuff. Ban it. I don't even like yardage books. I’m not against innovation to improve player performance, but not at the expense of pace of play.

Doug Smith: I think that's an old-man statement, Farrell — no offense. This isn't the same golf you grew up playing. There are kids who've never hit balls without Trackman; that's their norm. If you're that old, you can make a statement like that and it sounds fun and good, but are you detached from that part of the game at this point? I'm not arguing — I'm just offering an alternative viewpoint.

George Willis: Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson almost came to blows over cleat marks on the green at Augusta in 2005. But on AimPoint, I'm with Doug — I really don't care. You've got broomstick putters and all that stuff, and Fitzpatrick checks his yardage book on every single blade of grass. But they've got to do something to speed up the game a little. ⛳

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