Jackson Koivun’s breakout rookie season will include one more stop in Texas.
Koivun, the 21-year-old PGA Tour rookie who already has a victory and an undefeated Presidents Cup debut on his resume, has been added to the field for the inaugural Austin Championship, set for Nov. 12-15 at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa’s Fazio Canyons Course.
He’ll be joined by major champions Webb Simpson and Lucas Glover, nine-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar and fellow rising star Neal Shipley as the Tour prepares for its return to Austin after a three-year absence. The formal deadline to enter will be Friday, Nov. 6.
The Austin Championship will be part of the FedExCup Fall, bringing PGA Tour golf back to the Texas capital for the first time since the WGC-Dell
Technologies Match Play disappeared from the schedule following its 2023 edition.
Koivun, who was a three-time first-team All-American, arrives as one of the more intriguing additions to the field.
The former Auburn star won the 3M Open in July in just his third professional start and added his third top-10 finish of the season last month with a tie for fifth at the Biltmore Championship Asheville. He also earned a spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup team at Medinah, where he went 2-0-1 and finished as the only undefeated American.
That followed one of the most decorated college careers in recent memory. Koivun helped the Tigers win NCAA team championships in 2024 and 2026. He finished with a school-record 11 individual victories and became the first player to twice sweep college golf’s three major national player of the year honors: the Jack Nicklaus Award, Ben Hogan Award and Haskins Award.
His addition gives the new Austin event some young star power, while Simpson and Glover bring a pair of U.S. Open titles to the field.
Simpson, 41, has seven PGA Tour victories, highlighted by the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club and the 2018 Players Championship. A three-time Presidents Cup and three-time Ryder Cup player, Simpson most recently served as an assistant captain at the 2026 Presidents Cup after working as a vice captain for Keegan Bradley at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Glover, 46, has six PGA Tour victories, including the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. He enjoyed a career resurgence in 2023, winning the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship in consecutive weeks.
Kuchar, 48, adds another familiar name. The nine-time Tour winner has accumulated 119 career top-10 finishes and won the 2012 Players Championship, 2013 Memorial Tournament and 2014 RBC Heritage. He also represented the United States at four Ryder Cups and five Presidents Cups and won an individual bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics.
Shipley, meanwhile, will return to a stage he reached quickly after turning professional in 2024. The former Ohio State standout was the low amateur at the 2024 Masters, where he was the only amateur to make the cut and played alongside Tiger Woods in the final round. He earned his PGA Tour card after winning twice on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025 and has three top-10 finishes on Tour, including a tie for third at the 2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville.
For Austin, the tournament marks the beginning of a new chapter in a PGA Tour relationship that once looked considerably different.
When the World Golf Championships brought its match-play event to Austin in 2016, the marriage appeared almost ideal. Austin was booming as a technology hub, and the WGCs sat just below the majors and Players Championship in the Tour hierarchy. The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play drew elite fields to Austin Country Club and occupied a prime spot on the calendar shortly before the Masters.
That run ended in 2023 as the Tour reshaped its schedule, leaving Austin without an event.
The Austin Championship brings the Tour back three years later, although in a decidedly different form. Rather than a no-cut World Golf Championships event featuring many of the game's biggest names, Austin now occupies a spot in the FedExCup Fall.
The venue has changed, too. Instead of Austin Country Club, the tournament will be played on the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jackson Koivun joins Webb Simpson, Lucas Glover in 2026 Austin Championship field
