When Jackson Koivun tapped in for 67 and a share of 10th at this year’s ISCO Championship, a bright finish after a rainy stretch at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Ky., he despondently handed his caddie his putter and only said, “See you next week.”
Most PGA Tour players regard top-10s as cause for celebration (as do support personnel, as this is typically when some pay elevators kick in). This was Koivun’s second event as a pro, so the career-launching implications of earning his first check, $93,000, might’ve cracked something like a smile. But no. On cue, the compact kid from Auburn University with one of the best records in the history of men’s college golf won his next start at the 3M Open outside Minneapolis.
This spring when Koivun accepted his second Jack Nicklaus Award, the man himself asked Koivun if he’d like to join The Bear’s Club, which boasts 40 active PGA Tour winners as members. After our photoshoot for this month’s cover, I watched my host shoot 66 from the tips at Bear’s and get frustrated it wasn’t 64. He’s eager to break into the club’s “star groups.” Commenting about a peer who’s underperformed on tour: “He seems only to play well with his back against the wall. Maybe he’s become a little too comfortable.”
Where do impossibly high standards, that hallmark of the truly great, come from? Turns out from San Jose, Calif.
Kiara Romero also turned pro this summer, and her record at University of Oregon darn near mirrors Koivun’s. In 2025, the two were simultaneously the No. 1-ranked male and female amateurs in the world. They first crossed paths in a match-play “event” when he was 8 and she was 7 at the 922-yard Short Course at Santa Teresa Golf Club. Kiara overheard Jackson tell his buddy he’d never lose to a girl, so she nipped him on the sixth hole of sudden death. Lots of Youth on Course and PGA Junior League interactions followed, and by age 13 they were regulars seven miles down the road at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club. Kiara’s older brother Kyreece (he’d play at Oregon) and older sister Kaleiya (she just secured an LPGA Tour card, too, off the Epson Tour) and two of Jackson’s friends were in the group.
“Every afternoon we’d hit balls for 20 minutes and then go out as a sixsome. We’d usually play for dares in teams of two, like the losers had to send an embarrassing video to someone—stupid teenage stuff,” Romero says. “By the time the course made a rule against sixsomes, Kaleiya was off to college anyway.”
One time Kiara and Jackson had a long-drive contest for pushups, her driver vs. his 3-iron.
“I’m not sure I ever saw those pushups,” Jackson says.
“Oh, yeah, he doesn’t let that one go,” Kiara says.
At the 2025 NCAA Women’s Championship at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif., Kiara fought hard to extend her match to the par-5 18th hole. Lying two in a back greenside bunker, well, it didn’t go her way, and she conceded the match, ending the Ducks’ run in the semifinals. She cried. The next day, she received a video text from Jackson from his practice round on the same course. “Here’s how you hit that bunker shot,” he said as lead-in to his demonstration.
Coming from anyone but a true friend would’ve been too soon. “Brutal. And he gave himself a much better lie!” Kiara laughs.
These two worldbeaters grew up in homes less than 15 minutes apart and will be even closer when Kiara settles her move to Jupiter to get properly set up as a touring pro. Their trash talk and creative bets are certain to reach new levels.
How is it that the two best young golfers on the planet came from the same modest public course?
“We were able to have so much fun competing with each other,” Romero says. “Golf is hard; some kids get burned out and quit. That was never even a remote thought because we all loved the game together so much.”
To those who think golf is strictly an individual sport, reconsider.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
