The PGA Tour continues on to TPC Twin Cities this week with the 2021 3M Open. Read on below to see my prediction for who will win the tournament, as well as my predictions for who will finish in the top 10, my dark horse, and my player to fade.
Winner: Hank Lebioda- Lebioda is on the mother of all heaters of late, with 3 straight top 8 finishes and a combined score of -42 across those 3 events. Lebioda struggled earlier this season, but has made each of the last 7 cuts, including 5 top 20’s during that stretch. Lebioda has some past success in this event as well, making the cut both times and finishing in the top 35 in both starts here. And lastly, not only has Lebioda been going deep, but he has the skills to recover if he misses, as he is 6th in Strokes Gained: Proximity to Hole from Sand, 2nd in Strokes Gained: Scrambling From the Rough, and 3rd in Strokes Gained: Scrambling. I predict that the stars will align and Hank Lebioda will bring home his first PGA tour win on Sunday.
Top 10: Tony Finau- Finau has had a solid season, with a pair of runner ups, 7 top 10’s, and 13 top 25’s in 22 starts. Finau is coming off of a solid top 15 finish in the Open Championship and has played well here in the past, finishing T-23 in 2019 and finishing T-3 last year. Finau has shown the consistent results of late to go low and win this tournament, but a top 10 is certainly within reach.
Dark Horse: Kevin Tway- Like Lebioda, Kevin Tway has gone quite low of late, finishing at a combined -39 in his last 3 tour events. Tway has struggled a bit this season, missing 13 of 21 cuts to go along with just 2 top 25 finishes, both of which have come in his 2 most recent starts. Tway has not played in this tournament before, but he is heating up at the right time as he makes a push to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs. A win is unlikely, but I expect Tway to bring home his 3rd consecutive top 25 finish.
Player to Fade: Martin Trainer- Trainer is having a season to forget, with just 3 made cuts in 25 starts and is in a stretch of 10 consecutive missed cuts, with just 2 rounds in the 60’s during that time. Trainer has missed the cut here in both appearances with 3 rounds of 74 or worse to boot. Trainer is an easy missed cut this week.