3M OPEN
Purse: $17M
Purse: $8.4M
Winner's Share: $1.512M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Blaine, Minn.
Course: TPC Twin Cities
Yardage: 7,431
Par: 71
2024 winner: Jhonattan Vegas
Tournament Preview
If the FedExCup Playoffs started today -- they don't, they start in three weeks -- here are some golfers who would not be participating: Max Homa, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, Nick Dunlap and Rasmus Hojgaard. Some pretty big names there. Rickie Fowler, Nicolai Hojgaard and Cam Davis currently would get in, but they are not locks.
At a time when sports leagues are adding more and more rounds of playoffs, the PGA Tour has gone in the opposite direction. In the second year since the format was rejiggered, only 70 players will qualify for the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, down significantly from the 125 it used to be.
There are two more events, beginning this week at the 3M Open, to get into the playoffs. The regular season ends next week, as always, with the Wyndham Championship.
So it makes sense that most of those aforementioned golfers will be in the 156-man field this week at TPC Twin Cities. In fact, all but two of the players ranked from 60th to 80th in the FedExCup Standings are playing -- only the Hojgaard twins are missing. Other names of note playing this week include Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark, Chris Gotterup, Maverick McNealy, Sungjae Im, 2022 3M winner Tony Finau, Akshay Bhatia, Luke Clanton and defending champion Jhonattan Vegas. And joining as a late entry on Monday morning was Haotong Li, fresh off a final pairing with Scottie Scheffler at the Open and a tie for fourth that got him into this field. The Chinese star is also third in the Race to Dubai standings, so there's a good chance he will be on the PGA Tour full-time next season.
The wait is over, it's time! Announcing the official player field for the 2025 3M Open‼️ Who do you think will be this year's champion?🏆 pic.twitter.com/rr4vD7vOuA
— 3M Open (@3MOpen) July 18, 2025
Besides jockeying for playoff position, Burns, Clark, Gotterup and McNealy are all still hopeful of qualifying for the U.S. Ryder Cup team or being a captain's pick. That will play out over the next five weeks. The six automatic qualifiers will be known after the second playoff event, the BMW Championship, on Aug. 17. Keegan Bradley will announce his six captain's picks the day after the final playoff event, the TOUR Championship, on Aug. 25.
One final note about the playoffs: The 70-man cutoff has nothing to do with Tour cards for 2026. That chase continues through the fall season, but that number also has been reduced starting this season, from 125 to 100.
TPC Twin Cities opened in 2000, an Arnold Palmer design with an assist from Minnesotan Tom Lehman, who further assisted with a renovation seven years ago in an effort to toughen the track for a new PGA Tour event.
Even though the course is long and has water on 15 holes (this is the Land of 10,000 Lakes, after all), the wind needs to be blowing to really thwart the golfers. The fairways are very wide -- more than 30 yards at the 300-, 325-, and 350-yard checkpoints. That lets the golfers fire at the bigger-than-average 6,500-square-foot bentgrass greens that will run about 12 on the Stimpmeter.
There are some super long holes: All three par-5s are 590+ yards, there are two par-4s more than 500 and three of the four par-3s are at least 200. There are 72 bunkers.
Last year, the hardest holes were three of those long ones: the 502-yard 9th, the 501-yard 3rd and the 228-yard 13th.
TPC Twin Cities ranked 16th on difficulty meter among all Tour courses last season, after being 38th in 2023 and 14th in 2022. There have been many 63s and even 62s shot there through the years. Yet the course annually ranks near the top in double bogeys or worse. That's because it has led the Tour in water balls ever since becoming a tournament in 2019. That's right, more water balls than PGA National or TPC Sawgrass. There were 184 double bogeys and 27 triples last year, and a good chunk of those were wet.
With the course often playing so easy in spots yet with so much trouble lurking, this might be the one week of the year to factor in bogey avoidance AND birdie average.
As for the weather, thunderstorms were in the forecast for practice rounds and into Thursday morning, but after that there will be sunny skies. High temperatures will be in the 80s to near 90 and the wind, right now, is forecast to be pretty moderate, hovering under 10 mph. That would indicate more of a birdie-fest is on tap.
3M Open notes: The PGA Tour returned to Minnesota in 2019 after a half-century absence. There had been a lot of big-time golf there in the interim, including the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, which has also played host to U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, the 2019 Women's PGA Championship and nearly two decades' worth of a Champions Tour stops. But as for the PGA Tour, there had been nothing since the Minnesota Golf Classic in 1969. As you'll recall, Frank Beard came away with the title, ending the tournament's nearly four-decade run dating to 1930.
Key Stats to Winning at TPC Twin Cities
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance and Accuracy
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Bogey Avoidance
• Birdie Average/Birdie or Better Percentage
Past Champions
2024 - Jhonattan Vegas
2023 - Lee Hodges
2022 - Tony Finau
2021 - Cameron Champ
2020 - Michael Thompson
2019 - Matthew Wolff
Champion's Profile
The 3M Open is a real conundrum.
There are lots and lots of birdies every year with many rounds in the low 60s. There are also lots and lots of double and triple bogeys.
Vegas won at 17-under last year, one stroke ahead of Max Greyserman. Hodges won at 24-under in 2023, but he was seven clear of second place. Finau won at 17-under in 2022. Champ won at 15-under in 2021. So in the past four years, only one golfer has exceeded 17-under. All of them are pretty long hitters and of course Champ is very long.
Vegas ranked ninth in SG: Off-the-Tee -- seventh in distance, T12 in accuracy, He was also seventh in greens in regulation, eighth in SG: Approach, 53rd in Around-the-Green and eighth in putting. That's a very strong all-around performance. Greyserman was not nearly as balanced but led the field in SG: Putting. They both shot a 63 on the weekend, as did the two third-place finishers, McNealy and Matt Kuchar.
In 2023, Hodges ranked 25th in driving distance, 13th in fairways hit and T9 in greens in regulation at more than 80 percent. He ranked 27th in SG: Off-the-Tee, first in Approach, 27th in Around-the-Green, first in Tee-to-Green and fourth in Putting. First in Approach and Tee-to-Green and fourth in Putting will win you a lot of golf tournaments and explains the 24-under number.
The over/under on the winning score on golfodds.com is 264.5, which is 19.5 under par.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Sam Burns - $10,500 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +1800)
As mentioned above, Burns has a lot to play for regarding the Ryder Cup team, as do the other five-figure golfers in the field, McNealy and Gotterup. Burns currently sits 15th in the FedExCup Standings, to McNealy's 11th and the surging Gotterup's 22nd. The three are also vying for the TOUR Championship, and they'd all be in it if it started today. Burns is the only one with Ryder Cup experience so perhaps he has an edge if all things are equal. He's played his best golf in years over the second part of this season, making 11 straight cuts beginning with the Masters. He has a runner-up, two more top-10s and seven top-20s along the way. In two of those events, he got it to 17- and 18-under, which is something to look for this week -- can a golfer go low? Burns returned to the 3M after a five-year absence and tied for 12th last year. Oh, one last thing: He also leads the PGA Tour in SG: Putting.
Maverick McNealy - $10,300 (+2000)
McNealy is finally having the season that many expected from him when he joined the Tour full-time in 2019. He's had six top-10s and nine top-25s, including in his past three starts culminating with a T23 at the Open. As noted just above, he's in better Ryder Cup position than Burns, at least based on the standings. McNealy is ranked top-50 in every strokes-gained metric except Around-the-Green. He tied for third here last year.
$9,000-$9,900
Wyndham Clark - $9,800 (+2500)
This has not been a good season for Clark, one known for his locker-room outburst at Oakmont more than anything he's done on the course. Maybe that was a wakeup call, because he's played his best golf in 2025 since missing the cut at the U.S. Open and going ballistic. The next week, went T17 at the Travelers, then MC at the Rocket Classic, T11 at the Scottish Open and T4 at the Open. He has a significantly higher Ryder Cup hill to climb than Burns or McNealy. Clark's big issue this season has been on approach. He's ranked 157th on Tour -- even after gaining more than five shots on approach at the Open to rank fifth in the field on the week.
$8,000-$8,900
Jake Knapp - $8,900 (+4000)
Knapp is playing very well of late and does everything statistically quite well -- except keeping the ball in the fairway. That could be a problem this week. But he has this high price and low odds for a reason: He's one of the best golfers in the field. He tied for fourth at the Rocket Classic, getting it to 21-under, then had top-25s at the John Deere and Scottish Open. Knapp was heading toward a berth in the Open Championship until a Sunday fade in Scotland dropped him down the leaderboard. But, hey, he's more rested than most of the other top guys. Knapp is one of the longest hitters and best putters on Tour.
Michael Thorbjornsen - $8,500 (+3500)
Thorbjornsen is displaying great consistency for a young player, and there's no denying his talent and upside. He has not missed a cut since April (there was a WD at the Charles Schwab) and has a top-5 and two top-25s in his past three starts. He got it to 21-under in a tie for fourth at the Rocket Classic. Thorbjornsen is one of the longest hitters on Tour (eighth in distance) but surprisingly also pretty accurate (ranked 59th). That's not a discipline seen much on Tour, especially from a young player.
Kevin Yu - $8,000 (+5000)
The 26-year-old Arizona State alum via Chinese Taipei is having a breakthrough season on Tour. He was solo third in Canada, then top-25 at the Travelers signature event, 21st at the Deere and 34th in another elite field at the Scottish Open. Yu missed the cut last week at Royal Portrush with a Rory McIlroy-like 79-66. Like Thorbjornsen, he is very long and pretty straight, while also a pretty-darn-good 33rd in SG: Approach. This will be Yu's third go-round at TPC Twin Cities and he's 2-for-2 in cuts made.
$7,000-$7,900
Jacob Bridgeman - $7,500 (+7500)
Did you know Bridgeman has more top-10s this season than, oh, Xander Schauffele? Bridgeman has five to Schauffele's three. He's also ahead of him in the FedExCup Standings. We're not saying Bridgeman is better -- he's not -- just that he might be having a better season than a lot of people think. His fifth top-10 came a few weeks back at the Deere. He's ranked seventh on Tour in SG: Putting and 36th in birdie average. Bridgeman also tied for 19th at the 3M a year ago.
Sam Stevens - $7,500 (+7000)
Stevens has missed only three cuts in 23 starts -- none since April -- with eight top-25s. he got it to 20-under in finishing third at the Byron Nelson and also had a top-25 at the U.S. Open. He's done better than half the field in two signature events, the Truist and the Memorial. Stevens made the 3M cut a year ago and tied for 10th in 2023.
Matt McCarty - $7,200 (+9000)
McCarty has had an up-and-down season and has two weeks to get from 82nd in the standings to 70th or better. If you're a numbers person, you'll be interested to see that in McCarty's past six starts he's gone T4-MC-T19-MC-T22-MC. But we're not picking him because a top-25 is coming sequentially. We're picking him because, like Bridgeman, he's a good putter (ranked 23rd) and makes a lot of birdies (38th in birdie average). Also, some of his season-long numbers, such as in Approach, don't look so great. But in that recent stretch, they look pretty good.
Victor Perez - $7,100 (+10000)
Perez will have to get it in gear to make the playoffs, currently sitting at 106th in the standings. He's hasn't had a terrible year -- 12 of 18 cuts, six top-25s -- just not good enough. Last month he had a top-10 at the Canadian Open followed by a top-20 at the U.S. Open. Statistically, Perez is ranked 25th in SG: Approach, 44th in Putting, 63rd in Tee-to-Green and even 45th in Total. He's also 23rd in bogey avoidance. Those are really strong numbers. So some things are just not adding up for Perez. He's playing better than he's been scoring. At some point, that usually evens out.
$6,000-$6,900
Jackson Suber - $6,900 (+12000)
The Korn Ferry grad had a brutal first four and a half months on the PGA Tour. Since then, much better. He's made 5 of his past 6 cuts with two top-10s and another top-20. The top-10s came at the Rocket, where Suber reached 20-under, and last week at the Barracuda. He is ranked a surprising 20th on Tour in SG: Approach. He's decently proficient at making birdies and avoiding bogeys. He'll have to do better keeping his drives in the fairway this week.
Kris Ventura - $6,800 (+17000)
Ventura has missed more cuts than he's made in his career (40 of 71). But he's been much better this year, having made 13 of 20, including four in a row and 5 of his last 6. Ventura is a pretty good putter, a better-than-average birdie guy and a long driver who could try to keep a few more in the fairway. He's also 63rd in bogey avoidance, which is in the top third on Tour.
Gordon Sargent - $6,400 (+30000)
The 22-year-old left Vanderbilt after a pretty bad senior season, recently turned pro and has made four starts on Tour. He's gotten better in every one of them: MC-T67-62-T24. That last one came at the ISCO, and we know it's an opposite-field event. But Sargent also made the cut at the Rocket Classic and John Deere. He's had his issues with too many bogeys and with keeping the ball in the fairway, but -- and we know this is a very small sample size -- if he'd have enough rounds to qualify he'd be leading the PGA Tour in SG: Putting.
On board with Len's recommendations this week? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.
