College golfer suffers brutal break on final hole for NCAA championship

Golf can be a cruel sport at times. Auburn freshman Jackson Koivun felt the sport’s wrath on Monday.

Koivun was among the finalists competing for the NCAA men’s golf individual title at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Koivun needed a birdie on the par-4 final hole to tie Georgia Tech sophomore Hiroshi Tai atop the individual leaderboard. Koivun caught a brutal break on his approach shot that would have placed him a few feet away for the necessary birdie putt. However, in a stroke of terrible luck, the 2024 Ben Hogan Award winner’s ball hit the flagpole and caromed into a bunker.

Koivun finished the hole with a par, ending his day just one stroke shy of Tai. The win earned Tai a trip to the Masters next year. Koivun tied for second alongside Tyler Goecke of Illinois and Luke Clanton of Florida State.

Koivun’s Auburn team did manage to stay alive for match play to compete for the NCAA men’s golf team championship later this week. As a team, Auburn finished 6th at +19. Tai’s Georgia Tech team was the last to make the cut, finishing 8th with a cumulative score of +25.