The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits TPC Twin Cities for the 2024 3M Open. Designed by former PGA Tour players Arnold Palmer and Tom Lehman, TPC Twin Cities was opened in 2000 and has played host to the PGA Tour since 2019, with this year’s layout playing as a Par 71, 7,431 yard layout.
TPC Twin Cities may be a course that plays a bit on the long side, but it is still a very gettable layout, with all five winners finishing at -15 or better for the week. With that being said, being long off the tee will be a decided advantage this week. Distance is important, but accuracy will be equally as important, as fairways are narrow and there are plenty of bunkers and water hazards to navigate. Because of that, placing your tee shots in the right spot will be pivotal to success. Regardless of where your tee shot ends up, you still gotta score, so having great control of your irons will be vital to setting yourself up for some birdie looks. Fairway or rough, hitting your greens is a must. (I’ll see myself out.) The 3M Open is another one of those summer events that traditionally serves as a birdie fest, so having a hot putter will be the make or break factor that separates the best from the rest in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Pars will not do you a whole lot of good this week, so players will need to play aggressively, but smart, if they want a chance for scoring opportunities and, more importantly, for the win. Although the field this week isn’t the deepest, there are still plenty of wily veterans teeing it up against the future young guns of the tour. With summer winding down and the FedEx Cup Playoffs drawing nearer, finding success this week will be important in solidifying your spot in the Playoffs, as the Wyndham Championship in two weeks will serve as the regular season finale.
The 3M Open was first held in 2019 and has produced a solid list of winners in its short history, with Matthew Wolff, Michal Thompson, Cameron Champ, Tony Finau and Lee Hodges all finding victory here. In five years, this tournament has produced five different winners, so all five players above are tied for most wins in this event with one win each.
The 18 hole scoring record for the John Deere Classic is 62, which was achieved by the following players:
- Scott Piercy- first round, 2019
- Bryson DeChambeau- second round, 2019
- Matthew Wolff- third round, 2019
- Lucas Glover- fourth round, 2019
- Beau Hossler- fourth round, 2023)
Both the 72 hole scoring record and the 72 hole scoring record to par is 260 (-24), which was achieved by Lee Hodges during his victory last year.
Last year’s edition was won by Lee Hodges, who led wire-to-wire to pick up his first career PGA Tour victory by a tournament-record seven strokes over Martin Laird, J. T. Poston and Kevin Streelman. Keith Mitchell and Dylan Wu finished T-5, eight strokes off the pace.
While we all love seeing him play well, Sahith Theegala’s past history with this course leads me to believe it won’t be great. He has missed the cut in all three starts at the 3M Open and it will be very hard to overcome that. Theegala is an emotional player, so stepping on this course might flood past emotions here on this track.
Thriston Lawrence has definitely had his struggles, but his perforamce at The Open shows he can compete. Once he made the cut, he played some really solid golf. Getting over that hurdle allowed him to gain some confidence and now he knows he can make it to the weekend. Once he does, watch out.
Coming in fresh off of a win at the Rocket Mortgage, Cam Davis will be riding the wave of good playing. He is long off the tee, which will play nicely here at this course. His putting will dictate this performance, so the recent good playing will help him out here. Confidence is everything on this course.
A runner-up last year, J. T. Poston has all the potential to take this victory. He has only had two wins on tour, but the John Deere Classic is a tough win to have under your belt. His game obviously has whas it takes to snag his third victory here.
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