The First Look: 3M Open

Justin Thomas has played in the past seven TOUR Championships, winning the FedExCup in 2017. But he arrives at this week’s 3M Open, the second-to-last event of the Regular Season, needing a good week just to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs.

This is the first year that just 70 players qualify for the PGA TOUR’s postseason. Thomas is 75th in the FedExCup after a difficult season that included missed cuts in the past two majors, where he shot in the 80s both times.

“The golf in Minnesota is obviously slightly different than here in Liverpool,” Thomas said after shooting 82-71 at The Open. “But I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I’m just making so many bonehead mistakes and crazy things (are) happening.”

Thomas missed the cut at three of the four major championships and was a non-factor at the PGA Championship as the defending champion. Last year’s PGA was his last win on TOUR. He’s had just three top-10 finishes this season after never having fewer than seven in a season.

Thomas has five top-five FedExCup finishes in the past six seasons. He’s 152nd in Strokes Gained: Putting and dropped to 34th in SG: Approach-the-Green, a metric in which he annually ranks in the top 10.

But, as Tony Finau proved last season, sometimes a big streak can start at the 3M Open. And now Thomas is hoping that will hold true again in 2023.

FIELD NOTES: Tony Finau, who has won twice already this season, is looking to successfully defend his title at the 3M Open, which was the first of back-to-back wins for Finau last year. He now has four wins in his past 25 starts… Cameron Young, who finished T8 at The Open after playing in Sunday’s final group, is set to tee it up in Minnesota… Sungjae Im and Emiliano Grillo, who finished second to Finau last season at the 3M Open, are both set to return. Grillo, who won this year’s Charles Schwab Challenge, was a co-leader after the first round of The Open and finished T6, while Im finished T20… Ryan Gerard, a Special Temporary Member, is looking to keep his good play going with another opportunity to tee it up on TOUR. Gerard was the 36-hole leader at the Barracuda Championship before finishing fifth… Seven major champions are set to tee it up including Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama… John Deere Classic champion Sepp Straka, who finished T2 at The Open, is now 15th in the FedExCup and looking to qualify for a second straight TOUR Championship… Ludvig Aberg is back in action as his maiden PGA TOUR campaign continues. After topping the PGA TOUR University rankings and immediately earning TOUR status, Aberg notched a career-best T4 at the John Deere Classic… Other notables heading to Minnesota include Sahith Theegala, Joel Dahmen, Tom Hoge and Billy Horschel. Horschel, the 2014 FedExCup champion, is 118th in the standings.

HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYERS IN THE FIELD

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Sam Bennett returns to action on the PGA TOUR. Bennett, the celebrated collegiate star at Texas A&M who turned pro in May after earning low amateur honors at the Masters, has made four of five cuts on TOUR this season… Minnesota native Frankie Capan III will play his third-career TOUR event. Capan has notched three top-10 finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and sits 34th on the Points List… Another native of Minnesota, Derek Hitchner, is set to tee it up – and he’ll make his PGA TOUR debut in his home state. Hitchner is a member of PGA TOUR Canada, having made three of four cuts so far this season, after finishing 14th in PGA TOUR U. His best result, a tie for sixth, came at the Quebec Open in mid-July… Thomas Lehman, the son of Tom – player consultant for the golf course and former world No. 1 – will make his PGA TOUR debut. Lehman graduated from Cal Poly in 2019 and turned pro in 2020… Preston Summerhays, a star at Arizona State, will tee it up at his first non-major event on the PGA TOUR. Summerhays has played in three U.S. Opens in his young career, won the U.S. Junior in 2019 and was the youngest winner of the Sunnehanna Amateur in 2020. He was a first-team All-American as a sophomore in 2023.

STORYLINES:

The penultimate possibility for points

The 3M Open is the second-to-last event on the PGA TOUR Regular Season schedule, which means the big focus for everyone in the field will be their spots on the FedExCup standings.

Only the top 70 in the FedExCup standings will qualify for the Playoffs. That means Justin Thomas, at No. 75, will need to nab a solid result this week or at the season-ending Wyndham Championship just to get a spot in the Playoffs.

K.H. Lee, currently No. 70, is in the field at the 3M Open. Ditto Sam Ryder (No. 69) and Ben Griffin (No. 68). David Lingmerth, currently on the outside looking in at No. 71, is set to tee it up in Minnesota, as is No. 72 Davis Thompson. Shane Lowry, at No. 73, is not in the field. But Lee Hodges (No. 74) Thomas (No. 75), Justin Suh (No. 76) and Cam Davis (No. 77) will be at the 3M Open.

Players who do not qualify for the Playoffs will compete in the FedExCup Fall for their TOUR cards for the following season. They will retain their points from the Regular Season as they attempt to stay in the top 125 at season’s end. Trey Mullinax, who will not play the 3M Open, is currently at No. 125.

From Hoylake to the Gopher State

Manchester to Minnesota is a trip that will be taken by no less than a dozen players coming from The Open Championship to the 3M Open. This is a new spot on the schedule for the TPC Twin Cities tournament, but take it from Keegan Bradley – flying a long way after a major isn’t so bad. Last month, Bradley teed it up at the U.S. Open in California and then won the next week in Connecticut at the Travelers Championship.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points.

COURSE: TPC Twin Cities, par 71, 7,431 yards. Arnold Palmer and his design company were the original architects of the club, which opened in 2000. Former world No. 1 and Minnesota native Tom Lehman was the player consultant for the layout, located about 15 miles from Minneapolis/St. Paul. One of the signature holes, the risk-reward par-4 17th, is named "Tom’s Thumb’" after Lehman. A 2018 renovation included narrowing fairways, adding bunkers and adding/repositioning tee complexes as the TOUR arrived for the first time in 2019.

72-HOLE RECORD: 263, Matthew Wolff (2019)

18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Scott Piercy (first round, 2019), Bryson DeChambeau (second round, 2019), Matthew Wolff (third round, 2019), Lucas Glover (fourth round, 2019)

LAST TIME: Tony Finau erased a five-shot deficit with 11 holes left as Scott Piercy tumbled down the leaderboard Sunday to win for the third time on the PGA TOUR. Piercy held the 54-hole lead in record fashion but went 7 over for his final 11 holes Sunday to fall out of the lead. Finau made four birdies in a stretch of six holes of the back nine in his final round to run out to a three-shot cushion. Finau would go on to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic the following week for back-to-back TOUR titles. Emiliano Grillo and Sungjae Im finished tied for second at 14 under. Piercy ended up tied for fourth after a final-round 76.

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