Team Double J Is My New Favorite Presidents Cup Pairing

Jackson Koivun hit his tee shot out of bounds on the fourth hole Thursday at Medinah.

Justin Thomas made birdie anyway.

A hole later, Thomas made another. Then Koivun answered with a birdie of his own at No. 6.

That little stretch told me more about Justin Thomas and Jackson Koivun than an afternoon full of manufactured talk about chemistry ever could.

I have a new favorite Presidents Cup pairing.

I’m calling them Team Double J.

The nickname is mine. The golf belongs to them.

Thomas and Koivun defeated Corey Conners and Nico Echavarria, 4 and 3, in Thursday’s opening four-ball session. Koivun made the first birdie of the match at the par-5 third, lost his tee ball out of bounds at the next, then watched Thomas cover the mistake with a birdie. Thomas birdied the fifth. Koivun responded at the sixth, putting the Americans 3-up. Thomas eventually finished the job with late birdies as the U.S. collected the point.

That’s a partnership.

Not because everything went smoothly. Almost the opposite.

Thomas Gave Koivun Somewhere to Land

Thomas knew before the match that Koivun was going to experience something different Thursday.

The 21-year-old had played big-time college golf at Auburn, won on the PGA Tour and already handled plenty of pressure in an unusually fast climb into the professional game. Only 112 days separated Auburn’s NCAA championship and his Presidents Cup debut. Four years earlier, Koivun had been at the Junior Presidents Cup looking at players such as Thomas from a very different place in the golf world.

The first tee at a Presidents Cup is still different.

Thomas understood that because he had once been the player walking into these weeks for the first time. His Presidents Cup debut came in 2017, when he played his first two sessions with Rickie Fowler. A year later at the Ryder Cup in France, Jordan Spieth helped Thomas navigate another intimidating opening tee. Thomas told Koivun before this week that he was going to feel things he had never felt before.

Koivun did.

He admitted afterward that his first two holes were shaky.

“After that kind of found a groove,” Koivun said. “Me and JT, we played really well out there.”

That is where Thomas was valuable in a way that will never fit neatly onto a stat sheet.

Koivun did not have to play perfectly while waiting for the nerves to disappear. He could make a mistake and keep moving because the guy standing next to him had enough game, experience and Presidents Cup scar tissue to cover it.

That happened immediately.

Out of bounds at No. 4 could have become the moment when a young player began rushing, pressing or trying to pay his partner back with the next swing. Instead, Thomas made birdie. The hole disappeared. Koivun had another chance at No. 5, then made his own birdie at No. 6.

That exchange is the part I want to keep watching.

This Wasn’t Thomas Carrying a Rookie

There is an easy version of this story that casts Thomas as the wise veteran leading the kid around Medinah.

It is also incomplete.

Koivun contributed.

His birdie at No. 3 put the Americans in front. His birdie at No. 6 helped stretch the lead. He made mistakes, but he did not spend the afternoon hiding behind Thomas.

Thomas noticed.

“He’s really impressive to watch,” Thomas said afterward. “I’m really happy he’s on my team.”

Koivun offered the other half of it.

“He picked me up when I didn’t play too hot,” he said.

There it is.

Golf partnerships work when players are comfortable accepting help without becoming dependent on it. Four-ball makes that especially visible. One player can take on a flag when the other is safely in position. A mistake can disappear if a partner produces something better. Momentum can pass back and forth without anybody keeping a private accounting of who has contributed enough.

Thomas and Koivun seemed comfortable with that from the beginning.

They also weren’t strangers thrown together Wednesday night. Golf Channel reported that Thomas and Koivun share agent Lance Young and that Thomas had already become something of a mentor during Koivun’s rapid rise over the past year. There is even a built-in college-football joke to the relationship, with Thomas coming from Alabama and Koivun from Auburn.

On Thursday, it looked less like an arranged Presidents Cup partnership and more like two guys who already understood how to give each other room.

Thomas Is Really Good at This

Thomas’ part of this should not get reduced to leadership.

He can flat-out play four-ball.

Thursday pushed his Presidents Cup four-ball record to 7-0-0. Before this week, Thomas had already compiled a 10-3-2 overall Presidents Cup record. After the win with Koivun, he moved to 11-3-2 overall.

Thomas did not even know about the perfect four-ball number when he was told afterward.

“That’s sweet. I did not know that,” he said.

Then came an answer that explained some of it.

“Good partners is a great start.”

No complicated theory. No attempt to claim some special match-play gene.

Good partners help.

Thomas has had plenty of them through his U.S. team career. Now he’s on the other side of one of those relationships.

Nine years ago, Fowler was beside the Presidents Cup rookie. Spieth later understood what Thomas needed on an intimidating Ryder Cup first tee.

Thursday, Thomas got to be that guy for someone else.

The interesting part is that becoming the veteran hasn’t dulled the competitive side of him. He’s not in Medinah as an honorary team-room presence handing out advice. He birdied holes, protected his partner and closed a match.

That combination makes him useful to somebody like Koivun.

Please Give Me More Team Double J

Captain Brandt Snedeker still has 12 players to manage, foursomes to consider Friday and two more team sessions coming Saturday before singles.

So I don’t know how often Thomas and Koivun will play together the rest of this Presidents Cup.

I know what I would do when four-ball comes around again.

Send them.

There was enough evidence Thursday to see something worth developing. Thomas can absorb the occasional rookie mistake without treating Koivun like a rookie. Koivun has enough firepower to contribute rather than simply follow. Their personalities appear comfortable together, and Thomas clearly enjoys playing alongside him.

Most of all, they looked like they were having fun figuring it out.

Thomas called match play “a bizarre thing” afterward. He’s right. Sometimes a pairing that appears perfect on paper produces nothing. Another gets put together because a captain thinks two personalities or games might connect, and suddenly you want to see them again.

One match is one match.

But I’m in.

Give me another afternoon of Team Double J.

PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on RG.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.