3M Open Recap: Wolff Bests DeChambeau

So many of us as kids dreamed the same sports dreams. We hit the walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth or sank or the winning basket as time expired, or maybe even made a birdie putt at the 18th on Sunday to win the Masters.

The thing about Matthew Wolff is, he's not far removed from dreaming those boyhood golf dreams. He's only 20 years old. And his dream, at least his first one, has come true. But you have to wonder whether, even in Wolff's wildest thoughts, he ever sank a 26-footer for eagle on the 72nd hole to win a tournament in only his fourth start on the PGA Tour.

Now for sure TPC Twin Cities is no Augusta, and the 3M Open is no Masters, but Wolff's magical putt from off the green capped a riveting Sunday of golf theater, as he fended off the charges of not only top-10 player Bryson DeChambeau but also a familiar foe from his school days in Collin Morikawa.

At 20 years and 83 days, Wolff is the youngest winner on Tour since 19-year-old Jordan Spieth at the 2013 John Deere. Just a month and a half ago, Wolff was winning the NCAA Division I individual championship and was part of a loaded Oklahoma State team that also featured Viktor Hovland. 

Like last week's Rocket Mortgage Classic, the 3M Open debuted this year in one of the dead spots on the PGA Tour calendar. Unlike last week, the 3M was a thrilling tournament, thanks largely to the Class of '19 that recently came on the scene.

Every so often, a wunderkind has appeared on Tour – Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Spieth – but never have they come so collectively. Besides, Wolff, Morikawa and Hovland, there's also Justin Suh out of USC who tied for 58th in his best showing as a pro.  

Wolff is only the third golfer to win the NCAA individual title and a PGA Tour event in the same year. The other two are Ben Crenshaw and Woods. Greatness as pros occasionally comes for the top collegiate golfers, but rarely so soon and so dramatically.

Until Sunday, Hovland was the valedictorian of the class, having finished as low amateur at both the Masters (T32) and U.S. Open (T12) and also tying for 13th as a pro last week in Detroit. But in Minneapolis, Wolff and Morikawa were the stars and found themselves in the final pairing on Sunday. Maybe that gave them some sort of comfort of familiarity. It wasn't long ago that the two Los Angeles area products – Wolff from Agoura Hills and Morikawa from La Canada Flintridge – were dueling on the Southern California high school scene.

Wolff thus jumps from the 1600s in the world rankings to 135th, ahead of such golfers as Charl Schwartzel and Jason Dufner. He not only is exempt for the next 2-plus seasons, he'll get into next year's Masters and PGA. One thing he didn't qualify for was next week's Open Championship. The funny thing is, if Wolff had won last week in Detroit or this week at the John Deere, he'd be in. But the 3M is not part of the Open Qualifying Series.

Wolff is in the Deere field, as is Morikawa, Hovland and Suh. It would be incredibly hard for Wolff to go back to back. But in a Korn Ferry-like field – and this Korn Ferry stuff really takes some getting used to -- these guys have to be considered among the favorites.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau couldn't believe his eyes. After he sank an eagle putt on 18 to take a one-shot lead and all but ensure himself of no worse than a playoff, Wolff one-upped him. Aside from that sting, this week was a huge step forward for DeChambeau, who now has strung together consecutive top-10s on the PGA Tour after having none since the year-opening Tournament of Champions (and that was in a 33-man field). We'll next seem DeChambeau at the Open Championship, but he's amid a rough stretch of 10 straight majors without so much as a top-20.

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa began the week in the 600s OWGR, because he had turned pro a few weeks earlier and delivered some good finishes – T14 in Canada, T35 at the U.S. Open. But now he's up to 213th and, as we said, it surprise no one if he won the Deere. He's two years older than Wolff at 22 and, unlike Wolff, made it to No. 1 in the amateur world rankings while at Cal.

Wyndham Clark
The big-hitting Clark was in the lead on Sunday but couldn't hang on as he played the back nine in even par while others all around him were going low. He wound up tied for fifth, the best career finish for the 25-year-old rookie. Clark preceded this week with a pair of top-20s, so this is quite a stretch. He's up to 174th in the world and 77th in the FedEx point standings. We've raved for a few weeks now about his rare combination of power and finesse. Clark is top-10 on Tour in both driving distance (fourth) and strokes gained: putting (seventh). That mix will eventually win you a golf tournament.

Carlos Ortiz
The 28-year-old Mexico closed with a 64, the best round of the contenders, to tie for fifth. It was his best showing on the PGA Tour in terms of world rankings points. But Ortiz also tied for third at the Sanderson, for ninth at Riviera and for 12th at the Byron Nelson. On the other hand, he's missed 13 cuts in his 25 starts. So, there's a lotta volatility there.

Joey Garber
The 27-year-old Georgia alum recorded his best ever finish on Tour with a tie for seventh. It also was his fourth top-30 in his past five starts. Garber was starting from way back, so he's up to only 154th in the point standings and has a way to go to crack the top-125. That will be tough, but at the least the Tour rookie should be able to play the Korn Ferry finals in hopes of keeping his card.

Charlie Danielson
Danielson, who tied for 15th, is an interesting story. He grew up in Wisconsin not far from the Twin Cities. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year while at Illinois in 2016. But he's been hurt. A lot. He had two knee surgeries in middle school and then a third in 2018, costing him about a year. He came back just a few weeks ago, beginning with a pair of top-10s on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada. You don't just show up after a year off and start firing off top-10s. Then Danielson made it through sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open and made the cut, tying for 58th. And now this T15, but it was two shots shy of a top-10 that would've gotten him into the Deere. Every week now we see another great story on the PGA Tour. Danielson, ranked in the 800s, is one of them.

Jon Rahm
Rahm came from behind to capture the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, moving him back into the top-10 in the world rankings at No. 8. He's now finished first, second (at the Andalucia Masters) and third (at the U.S. Open) in his past three starts, which seems like pretty good prep work for the Open Championship. It was Rahm's first worldwide win since the Spanish Open more than a year ago and on the PGA Tour since the 2018 CareerBuilder. Rahm also won the Irish Open two years ago, but then weeks later could muster only a tie for 44th at the Open Championship.

Bernd Wiesberger
Wiesberger missed much of last year with a wrist injury. He fell close to 400 in the world rankings. But he just won the Made in Denmark tournament in May and now tied for second at the Irish Open and, suddenly, is back up to 83rd OWGR. This would seem to set him up nicely for the Open Championship, but he does not have a good track record there, with two missed cuts in five tries and nothing inside the top-60. But four straight top-20s on the European Tour, three of them doubling as top-10s, plus a made cut at the U.S. Open might offer new hope.

Eddie Pepperell
The Englishman skipped the U.S. Open because of injury. In his first start since missing the cut at the PGA, Pepperell tied for fourth in Ireland, signaling that he is healthy and a consideration for the upcoming Open.

Rafa Cabrera Bello
It has not been a great season for the Spaniard. But two weeks ago he tied for third at the BMW International and now added a tie for fourth at the Irish Open. For what it's worth, Cabrera Bello also tied for second at the 2012 Irish Open – which was played at Royal Portrush.