AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jackson Koivun is the best amateur golfer in the world. He’s also not going to be one of the amateurs teeing it up at Augusta National this week.
The junior at Auburn won for the fourth time in six starts this spring on Sunday, taking the individual title by two shots at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tennessee. He has dominated college golf since his freshman year, and he’s closing in on becoming the fourth player to win multiple Fred Haskins Awards. The expectation is he will turn pro and join the PGA Tour after the NCAA Championships conclude in June thanks to earning his card at last year’s national championship.
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Yet the best amateur in the world isn’t playing at this week’s 90th Masters, the best tournament in the world that celebrates the amateurs in the game. Should he be?
Every year, there are seven spots reserved in the field for winner’s of major amateur events to qualify for the first major championship of the year, and there are numerous events at Augusta National set aside for the ams, including the Amateur Dinner on Monday night and staying a night in the Crow’s Nest atop the clubhouse.
Koivun, an American, could’ve qualified multiple ways. He could have won the NCAA Championship. He could have won or finished runner-up in the U.S. Amateur. He didn’t do any of those things.
He has, however, put together one of the best resumes of any amateur golfer in recent memory the past year. He was a stalwart at the Walker Cup for the United States, going 3-1. The next week, he finished tied for fourth at the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship, the same event where every member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team was competing. It was his fourth top-11 finish on the PGA Tour last summer in as many starts.
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His worst finish in a stroke-play event the last calendar year was the U.S. Open, when he missed the cut. Outside of that, he hasn’t finished worse than T-17. That’s amateur events. That’s college starts. That’s in the brightest lights in the professional game.
The top-ranked amateur not competing in the Masters happens often. Luke Clanton didn’t play in 2025. Ludvig Aberg didn’t tee it up in 2023. Pierceson Coody also wasn’t in the field in 2021.
Koivun’s circumstances could be viewed through a different lens, however. Of the seven amateurs who qualified to play at Augusta National this week, only six will be there. That’s because Michael La Sasso, the reigning NCAA individual championship, forfeited his spot in the tournament when he turned professional in January to join LIV Golf and forego the remainder of his senior year at Ole Miss.
That made a lot of fans ask: why not invite Koivun?
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It’s rare for the Masters to extend special invitations to players, especially amateurs, though it happened in 2023 with Gordon Sargent. He was the reigning NCAA champion and received a special invite to play at Augusta National, the first for an amateur in more than 20 years. Ever since, the Masters has extended invitations to the NCAA champ, given they remain an amateur. Fred Biondi won in 2023 and didn’t compete in 2024 because he turned professional.
With La Sasso’s departure, Koivun would’ve filled an amateur void that was caused with La Sasso’s departure. With how well he has played recently, there’s a better chance than not he could’ve made the cut and won Low Amateur honors. The field is not weaker because Koivun is not there, but it could’ve been boosted by his presence.
However, he didn’t qualify. And as an invitational tournament, Augusta National has a clear criteria for how players can qualify to drive down Magnolia Lane, and Koivun didn’t accomplish any of those ways. However, his resume and accomplishments, especially in the last year, have placed him in an upper echelon of amateur golfers in the 21st century. He’s the best player in Auburn history and will have a case to put himself in a conversation of the best college golfers of all-time if he finishes his season the way his spring has gone thus far.
It’s unfortunate Koivun isn’t playing at Augusta National this week, fresh off his latest collegiate win as his amateur career comes close to wrapping up and as there is as much interest around his name as any amateur in recent history. Whether he deserved a spot in the field this year, especially after La Sasso’s decision, is worthy of discussion.
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Koivun’s time at the Masters will come, but his mark will have to be made as a professional.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Why isn’t Jackson Koivun playing in the Masters 2026? Explaining why
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