3M Open
Course: TPC Twin Cities (7,431 yards, par 71)
Purse: $8,400,000
Winner: $1,512,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
With the final major of the year in the books, all focus turns towards the FedExCup Playoffs. The PGA Tour has made it increasingly more difficult to qualify for golf's version of the postseason. Now only the Top 70 in the FedExCup standings will qualify for the opening leg at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Just this week's 3M Open and next week's Wyndham Championship remain for players outside the cutoff to gain some points and make it into the playoffs. The consequences are huge as all players to qualify for the postseason will be assured of full status in 2026, all players who make the Top 50 and earn a spot at the BMW Championship will be locked into all the signature events in 2026, and all players who crack the Top 30 and make the TOUR Championship not only will have an equal shot to win the FedExCup at East Lake, but also earn a spot into all four major championships in 2026. Everyone in the field at the 3M Open regardless of position in the standings are fighting for something.
While many of the top players will likely skip these next two weeks to decompress from The Open Championship and make sure they are 100 percent for the playoffs, there's still plenty of names to watch in the Twin Cities. The highest four ranked players in the OWGR are Maverick McNealy (18th), Sam Burns (22nd), Wyndham Clark (25th) and Chris Gotterup (27th), all of which will be hoping for a late season push to catch the eye of U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley and earn a spot on the American team for Bethpage in late September. Gotterup is perhaps the most interesting case as he was not on the radar to make the team a few weeks ago, but after winning the Genesis Scottish Open and following that up with a third place showing at The Open, he's firmly planted his flag as one to watch. McNealy and Burns are right in the mix for a captain's pick and a win or top finish at TPC Twin Cities could go a long way.
There's also a solid international contingent looking for a strong showing at the 3M Open. Haotong Li is coming off a strong T4 showing at The Open. He's been one of the top players on the DP World Tour much of 2025 and is in line to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026. The T4 at Royal Portrush not only gave him a spot in this week's field, but will also earn him a place at The Masters next year. Erik van Rooyen is coming off a runner-up finish at the alternate field event at the Barracuda Championship last week. Meanwhile players like Sungjae Im, Taylor Pendrith, Adam Scott, Byeong Hun An and Tom Kim will be hoping to kick start what have been somewhat quiet seasons with a strong finish.
Keith Mitchell holds the final spot in the FedExCup Playoffs entering the week with Emiliano Grillo, Davis Thompson, Eric Cole and Alex Smalley right there looking to jump inside the cutline at TPC Twin Cities. Last year Jhonattan Vegas returned to the winner's circle on the PGA Tour with a one-stroke victory at the 3M Open. Max Greyserman was the runner-up on that day, and he has since added three additional second place finishes, including a few weeks ago at the Rocket Classic. Greyserman enters the week with the fifth-best odds and it wouldn't surprise anyone to see him finally get that much-deserved first PGA Tour victory.
Scoring in the six-year history of the 3M Open has been quite good. That said, Lee Hodges had the most dominant performance we have seen at this event back in 2023 when he posted 24-under-par and won by seven strokes. The weather forecast for this year's tournament will be hot with some threat of thunderstorms throughout. The wind will be pretty mild and shouldn't have too much of an impact on things. Given that the course should play relatively soft, it wouldn't surprise me to see someone get hot and reach the 20-under-par mark.
Recent Champions
2024 - Jhonattan Vegas (-17)
2023 - Lee Hodges (-24)
2022 - Tony Finau (-17)
2021 - Cameron Champ (-15)
2020 - Michael Thompson (-19)
2019 - Matthew Wolff (-21)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/Proximity
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- Driving Accuracy/Birdie Average
Champion's Profile
Last year Vegas won the 3M Open by finishing top-10 in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach and SG: Putting. He also ranked seventh in driving distance, T7 in GIR's and first in putts per GIR. Funny enough, the other four players that finished inside the top-5 with him all led in one of the four strokes gained categories. Greyserman led in SG: Putting, Matt Kuchar led in SG: Approach, McNealy led in SG: Around and Pendrith led in SG: Off-the-Tee. Quite simply, there's a lot of different ways to get it done around TPC Twin Cities.
That's a good thing that really every type of player has a chance to do well at this course, but it also does make handicapping this for DFS purposes a bit of a challenge. We do expect to see good scoring this week, and to me that puts the biggest emphasis on approach play and putting. Players who have been gaining a lot of strokes recently in those two areas are who I'm going to try to target. Short game has also been historically more important than average at the 3M Open, and I would lean towards accuracy over distance off the tee. There's a lot of water around this course that can quickly derail a really good round, so avoiding the big numbers are going to be crucial to being able to contend on Sunday.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Sam Burns ($12,000)
Burns didn't have the two weeks he was looking for across the pond, but his finishes of T13-T5-T30-T19-T12-2nd-T7-T17 in his last eight starts in America are pretty impressive. Burns struggled with his iron play for much of the year, but has gained on approach in five of his last six starts. He is also the best putter on the PGA Tour, leading in SG: Putting by a sizable margin. Burns has solid history at TPC Twin Cities making the cut in all three starts, including a T7 in 2019 and a T12 last year.
Maverick McNealy ($11,800)
McNealy is playing some really solid golf with three straight top-25 finishes. He also has shown the ability to pop with four top-5 finishes in 2025. There's really no weaknesses with his game right now. McNealy sits 38th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 43rd in SG: Approach and 31st in SG: Approach on the season. He has made the cut in all three tries at the 3M Open, including a T3 last year when he led the field in SG: Around-the-Green.
Max Greyserman ($11,400)
I expect a fair amount of people to be hesitant on Greyserman after he missed the cut in both events in the UK, but I'm confident he bounces back in America when he has made his last 10 cuts, including a T2 at the Rocket Classic. Greyserman has been one of the best putters on Tour over the last two seasons, and has also gained strokes on approach in seven of his last eight starts. He fired a 63 in the final round last year at TPC Twin Cities to take solo second.
The Middle Tier
Emiliano Grillo ($10,200)
Grillo has a fantastic record at the 3M Open, finishing inside the top-25 in 4-of-5 starts where he gained strokes off the tee, around the greens and with the putter. He also has a trio of top-10 finishes, two of which were inside the top-3. Grillo has some momentum off a recent runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic. He's a very accurate driver and has been a strong iron player throughout his career. This season he has also got the flat stick working sitting 47th in SG: Putting and 44th in putts per GIR.
Kevin Yu ($9,800)
Yu has been one of the best ball-strikers on the PGA Tour for the last couple years. He's been continuing the trend this year ranking eighth in SG: Off-the-Tee, eighth in total driving, 33rd in SG: Approach and 18th in GIR percentage. What has come alive for Yu recently, however, is the putter. He has gained strokes on the greens in seven of his last eight starts. During that stretch he owns a pair of top-5 finishes and four top-25s.
Vince Whaley ($9,600)
Whaley has made his last 10 cuts and owns six top-26 finishes in that stretch, including a T4 at the ISCO Championship a couple weeks ago. He ranks 44th in SG: Putting, 18th in putts per GIR and ninth in scrambling this season. Whaley doesn't make many mistakes at third in bogey avoidance, and also ranks top-10 in both par-3 and par-5 scoring. The iron play has also really come around after a slow start to the year in that department.
The Long Shots
Matt McCarty ($8,800)
McCarty has run a little hot and cold, but he's been quite strong when he's on, racking up seven top-25 finishes in his last 14 starts. This will be his first appearance at TPC Twin Cities, but he profiles well for the challenge. McCarty ranks 25th in driving accuracy, has gained strokes on approach in three of his last four starts and is 23rd in SG: Putting. He is also top-10 in par-3 scoring average this season.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($8,600)
Bezuidenhout is the best value in the field for my money. He sits 50th in the DataGolf rankings and is a perfect course fit. The South African is one of the most accurate drivers on Tour, ranks top-25 in both SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting and also gained strokes on approach in seven of his last nine starts. I like Bezuidenhout's chances at his second top-10 and sixth top-20 finish of the season.
Andrew Putnam ($8,400)
Putnam is one of the shortest hitters on Tour, but he is deadly accurate. That's why he is still able to check in at 15th in GIR percentage and also 38th in SG: Approach. The short game and putting have also been brilliant this season at fourth in SG: Around-the-Green, third in scrambling and 15th in SG: Putting. Putnam is also second on Tour in bogey avoidance and top-10 in both par-3 and par-4 scoring.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
There are some quality options at the top of the board, but it's certainly nothing like we've seen the last couple weeks. I think overall it's a much more balanced board that we've had recently. I also mentioned it in some of the analysis above, but I don't think play on the links courses the last two weeks across the pond will have much of an effect on what we end up seeing at TPC Twin Cities. It's just so different across the board. Anyone who struggled should be able to bounce back if they have played well in American recently. Bombers have done well at this course in the past, but the threat of big misses off the tee is a concern given all the trouble you can find out there. I personally prefer the more accurate hitters who also excel on their approach play and with the putter.
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