Jackson Koivun is back in the US Open in his last tournament as an amateur

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Jackson Koivun was so good at Auburn he already locked up a PGA Tour card after his sophomore season. He just didn't think he was ready, regardless of results that suggested differently.

Now he is.

Koivun is in the U.S. Open for the second straight time — last year making it through a 36-hole qualifier, this year as the No. 1 amateur in the world. He had to stay an amateur to use the exemption for Shinnecock Hills. He makes his pro debut in two weeks at the John Deere Classic.

If the last month wasn't enough of a whirlwind — another NCAA title for Auburn, the decision to turn pro and get ready for the U.S. Open — imagine what last year was like. He clinched a tour card at the NCAAs through the PGA Tour University program for underclassmen.

“I had about a week to make that decision, and I just wasn’t ready,” Koivun said Monday when asked why he didn't turn pro a year ago. “And I’m very happy I made that decision.”

The game was never a question, and Koivun showed that after missing the cut at Oakmont. He tied for 11th in the John Deere Classic, tied for sixth at an opposite-field event in Kentucky, tied for fifth in the Wyndham Championship and then played in the final group at the Procore Championship, which Scottie Scheffler won in Napa, California.

“I think my golf game was there,” Koivun said. “I just think I wasn’t ready to leave college, and mentally just wasn’t ready for the potential hardships and the travel and everything like that. But taking another year to really wrap my mind around that was good for me, and now I’m definitely ready.”

He'll find out how much progress he has made in the U.S. Open. Oakmont and Shinnecock Hills have reputations of being among the toughest courses for golf's toughest test.

And then he'll have around six starts on the PGA Tour to see what kind of progress he makes. He is assured a tour card through the 2027 season.

As for the hardships, Koivun said it was more adjustments from college. He won six times this year without facing constant travel, learning new courses or dealing with missed cuts.

“For me, it’s just finding acceptance in golf,” he said. “Coming into any event, I’m going to try to win it, but not pushing too hard and accepting that it’s not a game where you win every week. So understanding that and getting that through the head and just keep on going.”

J.T. Poston and Bud Cauley won the last two weeks on the PGA Tour, and that moved them well inside the top 60 in the world to be added to the field for the U.S. Open.

The USGA had set aside seven spots to account for players who could mathematically earn their way through exempt categories. The other five spots went to alternates from some of the 13 qualifying sites — Hennie Du Plessis, Bryan Lee, Harry Higgs, Spencer Tibbits and Jack Schoenberger.

Chandler Phillips previously made it as an alternate when Marco Penge withdrew.

The finally tally of this 156-man field shows only 68 players who had to go through 36-hole qualifying, a low number for a major that used to prefer half the field qualified.

Tibbits and Schoenberger were among 16 players who had to go through 18-hole and 36-hole qualifying. The addition of Schoenberger, who finished his senior year at Kentucky, gives the U.S. Open 21 amateurs in the field.

Wyndham Clark has been in a better place this year, winning The CJ Cup Byron Nelson with a 60 in the final round, missing the playoff at the Memorial by one shot and contending briefly at the Canadian Open last week.

It was different a year ago, particularly at the U.S. Open. He missed the cut at Oakmont and got into trouble with the historic club for damaging his locker. The club banned him indefinitely until he fulfilled various obligations, starting with paying for the repairs.

Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, acknowledged his regrets about that moment when he won the Byron Nelson, and it surfaced again Monday at Shinnecock Hills.

“That was a really challenging time and something I’ve deeply regretted and feel awful that I did that,” Clark said. “But there were so many good lessons in that that really taught me a bunch. I’ve really come a long way, and I’m excited for this year’s Open for some redemption and to move forward and enjoy the challenges of Shinnecock and how great this place is and how amazing this championship is.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

J.T. Poston poses with the trophy after winning the Memorial golf tournament, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Bud Cauley, of the United States, poses with the trophy after winning the Canadian Open golf tournament in Caledon, Ontario, Sunday June 14, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Wyndham Clark watches his tee shot on the 15th hole during the final round of the Memorial golf tournament, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Jackson Kouvin speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., Monday, June 15, 2026.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

WASHINGTON (AP) — By the time Justin Gaethje pummeled his bloodied foe to a pulp and celebrated a championship win with a backflip off the top of the wire-mesh cage, then shook hands with President Donald Trump — and even fist-bumped Melania — this much about his company's future was clear to the ultimate boss of UFC: Just say no to the White House.

“It was an amazing, experience, this was a one-of-one,” UFC CEO Dana White said.

“It will never happen again.”

Oh, not because the show dubbed Freedom 250 and ostensibly held to celebrate Trump's 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing wasn't by White's accounts a smashing success. He crowed about merchandise sales and streaming service subscriptions and how UFC surpassed its goals in every metric he could list at a news conference that stretched well into the dawn's early light Monday.

And the setting?

Forget it, almost impossible to top on a night when fighters essentially treated their walkouts like they were kids on a class trip. The all-male lineup toured the West Wing, the Oval Office, walked past presidential portraits, through the Roosevelt Room, the Cabinet Room — and the winners even got a meet-and-greet with Trump.

Gaethje skimmed the copy of the Declaration of Independence that hangs in the Oval Office and said a prayer before he made the unusually long walk to the cage. Gaethje battered Spanish-Georgian fighter Ilia Topuria in the main event and won the UFC lightweight title.

“Usually, I kind of blank out when it comes to getting ready to walk to the cage,” Gaethje said. “It was pretty crazy, looking at the Declaration of Independence. The original one. Their language was different. I'm not smart enough to read that.”

Gaethje also banked a whopping $825,000 in bonus money for winning “Performance of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors.

Trump stayed until the end of the seven-card show and generally seemed engaged with the fights — at one point he put on a white “USA” baseball cap — and certainly was all smiles each time a fighter who had a hand raised in victory then used it on a handshake with the president.

Trump boasted on Truth Social the night was “PERFECT!”

There were few blips on the big night and the blemishes that did happen were at the expense of UFC's two more problematic fighters.

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted out of the Ellipse watch party attended by thousands more fans by a group of police officers. Heavyweight Josh Hokit took it further with an extraordinary and unfounded attack based on a right-wing conspiracy theory about former first lady Michelle Obama.

For all the hand-wringing ahead of the card, the show delivered on the star-spangled smackdown that featured pulsating patriotism from the Marine Band, tributes to first responders, active military and other White House-designated heroes. Gaethje and Ciryl Gane were crowned champions inside a blood-splattered eight-sided cage plopped in the open air right in the people's house backyard on the South Lawn.

Blood and guts were a mandate before an American fighter wrapped himself in the flag.

“Hopefully tonight created some unity,” White said as he put on his hyperbolic promoter's hat. “Even for the people that thought this was going to be some big political statement or something, this wasn't. This was Americans, all Americans celebrating the birthday. For people who tuned in for the first time, because it was at the White House, hopefully they liked the sport. They liked some of the guys' stories.”

So maybe some new fans stick around.

After all, International Fight Week is right around the corner, with UFC 329 set to mark the return after a five-year break of the company's biggest box office draw, Conor McGregor.

That fight will be held in a more traditional arena back on UFC's home turf in Las Vegas, just as they will for years to come.

But despite all the pomp and pageantry, the eyerolls and angst, White stands by his claim that UFC is one-and-done in D.C.

The constant headaches over weather concerns in the rare outdoors show, the logistics of construction of the cage and staging events at federal landmarks and the soaring cost — UFC said it was footing the $60 million tab — made Freedom 250 a one-off for a company once dubbed “human cockfighting."

“I can’t afford it," White said. "I’ll never do the Sphere again and we’ll never do this again.”

AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

Featherweight fighters Diego Lopez and Steve Garcia in the ring during the first fight at UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, June 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump stand in the ring at UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Alex Pereira, far right, is attended to, as Ciryl Gane lays in the center of the ring during UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Ilia Toupruia, left, fights Justin Gaethje during UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Ilia Toupruia, left, fights Justin Gaethje during UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

UFC President and CEO Dana White attends a press conference following the UFC Freedom 250 fight, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

The UFC Fan Fest on the White House Ellipse ahead of the fights on the South Lawn, Sunday, June 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)