The PGA Tour's biggest stars will largely comprise the exclusive field for this week's signature event: the Memorial at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

While much of the attention will focus on Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, and the down-ballot names contending for spots in next week's U.S. Open, there's one teenager making his PGA Tour debut at Jack's Place whom you may want to familiarize yourself with now: Auburn freshman Jackson Koivun.

Koivun earned a sponsor exemption into the Memorial by winning the Jack Nicklaus Award, handed out by the Golf Coaches Association 0f America. By garnerning that player of the year honor, Koivun became the only golfer, ever, to win the Nicklaus, Ben Hogan Award, Haskins Award, and Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award in the same season.

Oh yeah, and he led Auburn to the SEC championship and its first national championship. Not bad for a frosh!

“I had a chance to watch Jackson a little in the NCAA Championships, as he led Auburn to a title, and he certainly doesn’t play like a freshman,” Nicklaus said in a statement announcing Koivun's honor. “He won in extra holes in the semifinals to advance his team, and in the finals against Florida State, he was the first to put a point on the board. I think playing this week at Muirfield Village Golf Club will just add to the great experiences Jackson has enjoyed this year. We wish him well.”

“It was awesome,” Koivun said Wednesday about meeting the Golden Bear and receiving his award at Muirfield Village. “Mr. Nicklaus gave us a lot of great information and advice.”

Koivun's being throw into the fire. In addition to the stacked field, Muirfield Village consistently plays as one of the toughest venues in the sport. It's long, yet driving accuracy trumps distance, due to the thick rough around the fairways.

“I would just say the tee shots are a little tighter in person than they look on TV,” Koivun said after his practice round, some of which he played with fellow college phenom-turned-PGA Tour rising star, Ludvid Aberg. “The bunkers and the rough definitely cut in a little more. There's a lot more slope on the greens than the TV shows.”

The relatively small greens heighten the importance of precise tee-to-green golf. (There's a reason the trophy is historically held up by a star.) Based on Koivun's description of his own golf game, though, he appears to have the ideal profile to navigate Jack's Place.

“I would say I'm probably not visually impressive,” he told reporters in his pre-tournament press conference. “Like, I'm not killing the golf ball out there. I just kind of hit it out there. I try to hit it pretty straight. I would say that's probably one of my strengths is my accuracy off the tee. I don't hit it as far as some of these college guys do, but I definitely hit a lot of fairways. Then my putter is definitely my prized possession. I do make a lot of putts. I think that helps me score.”

We've already seen one SEC underclassmen win on the PGA Tour in 2024. Can Koivun make it two?