Koivun on the U.S. Presidents Cup team? Rex and Lav debate
Jackson Koivun has made only three professional starts. But he's already a Tour winner. Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner debate if he should be on this year's U.S. Presidents Cup team.
Video Transcript
I want you to get ratioed, Rex, because there was, there was a, a point you made about, about 10 minutes ago where you said you would not put Jackson Kovin on the US Presidents Cup team at this juncture.
And keep in mind we still have- Yeah a couple events, for qualifying.
We have two more- Yeah regular season events on the PGA Tour.
At this point, as you mentioned, he's 70th in the FedEx Cup standings.
That would be the cutoff for the first, playoff event.
The team will be finalized after the BMW, so we have four events remaining, and then Captain Brat- If he qualifies and then Captain Brat Snedeker would then make six captains- Brant.
Brant Snedeker Brant Snedeker would make six captain selections for that American team.
Are you saying, Rex, that you would not put 21-year-old Jackson Kovin on an American team that has not lost since the '90s?
At 51st on the US points list, no, I would not.
And again, he's got- Of course- four events to change my mind he's 51st.
Of course he's 51st on the points list.
I'm, I'm not- He's made three starts as a professional.
No, no, no, I would not put him on, on the team right now.
Again, he's got four starts to change my mind, and he may very well change my mind at the way he's going.
He may very well change I, I think you called him Brat.
I, I don't know who Brat Snedeker is.
Wait.
Brant Snedeker.
You did not.
You, you whiffed on it the first time.
It's Brant Snedeker.
Okay.
Captain Snedeker is- It's been a long week probably going to give him a hard look.
But right now, my guess is the US team is pretty much locked in, and, he'd have to do something very special.
I'm not saying he needs to get inside the top 12.
Do something very special, as in win a golf tournament at the age of 21 in your third start- That's great while beating a field that included world number one Scottie Scheffler.
That, was that- That's great is that the sort of special?
And again, he's got right now guaranteed three more events, maybe four more events, to change my mind, and my guess the c- the captain's mind as well.
But no, not at 51st in the world right now.
I, no- I would not put him on the team.
Oh, my God.
Would you?
Of course- No, no, I want you to get ratioed now of course I would.
There it is.
Of course I would put Jackson Kovin, unless, unless the wheels somehow completely fall off over the next couple weeks- Wow which I'm not anticipating that they're going to do so.
Of course Brant Snedeker, the American captain, has to at least give him a shot.
You think over the recent history, Rex- He doesn't over the past half decade or so of team competitions, how beneficial it could be to have a player of this ilk be brought into the fold.
I'm thinking Scottie Scheffler at Whistling Straits for that 2021 US team, and how much it meant for him.
At the time, he wasn't even a PGA Tour winner.
For him to get the vote of the captains and the vice captains and the players on the team saying, "I want you on that team," how monumental that was for Scottie Scheffler to have the season he did in 2022, and we see what he's eventually become.
Ludvig berg, a great example of that as well.
Just a couple months removed from his decorated college career at Texas Tech, what European captain Luke Donald saying, "I want you to be on this team.
Go out and prove that you can do it."
Winning on the DP World Tour, but not yet at that level on the PGA Tour.
Stars in Rome, has now become a fixture, in the top 10 in the world rankings, a d- fixture at major championships, a fixture on that European Ryder Cup team as, as well.
I think the issue, as you correctly point out, is who would you leave off on that American team?
Don't really care.
Find a spot for him.
This is building not just for this year- Find a spot for him.
Yes.
That's your answer to everything.
The goal, the goal- Find a spot for him the goal is to win right now, and obviously the Americans have that team against a severely undermanned and short-handed international squad.
They should be able to beat them regardless of whether or not Jackson Kovin is on this team.
But this is a great opportunity for Team USA leadership, and you're trying to build continuity from the Presidents Cup to the Ryder Cup, to let this kid know that we believe in you.
Find a spot for him.
You got 12 spots on the team.
Six are gonna be already accounted for with the automatic qualifiers.
Make sure that he's on that squad.
To be clear, I think Jackson Kovin is going to be on a lot of American teams, whether that's Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.
So let's start now.
But no, right now at 51st, if he, if, if the, if the deadline comes and Captain Snedeker has to make a decision, then no, he's not going to pick him at 51st, no.
I'm looking right now, ag- and these Presidents Cup standings have not been updated through the 3M Open.
Right now, if you're looking at numbers seven through 12, 'cause again, there's going to be, six wildcard picks for Captain Brant Snedeker.
Right now it's Chris- Yeah Gottrup, J.J. Spaun, Wyndham Clark , Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, and Akshay Bhatia.
Chris Gottrup is a Player of the Year candidate.
He is going to be on that Presidents Cup team.
It's gonna be great to see him as well.
That'll be the first time he's been in US team competition.
Wyndham Clark, the reigning US Open champion at number nine, even if he is at that position in the standings, he is going to be on that team as well, just like Chris Gottrup, a, 2026 PGA Tour Player of the Year candidate.
Other than that, Rex, you could make an argument for any of those players to be left off, whether it's J.J. Spaun, who has been certainly hit or miss after a breakout in 2025, of which he has accrued most of his Presidents Cup points.
Justin Thomas, again, inconsistent.
Came back from the back issue, early this season.
As I said, a small sample size.
Has not really had a, serious contention to try and win on the PGA Tour this season.
Xander Schauffele has not been the same player since the rib issue at the beginning of last year.
Akshay Bhatia won at Bay Hill, but again, he's a young player.
He'd be a first-timer going to Medinah as well.
I could make an argument for any of those players to be left at home for Jackson Kovin.
It's gonna be up to Brant Snedeker if he's actually going to want to do so.
