Just two tournaments remain of the regular PGA Tour season. with this week’s event, the 3M Open, offering a chance for some of the lesser lights to bolster their positions on the FedEx Cup points list.
The top 70 following next week’s Wyndham Championship will make it through to the first playoff event at TPC Southwind in two weeks time, where newly crowned Open champion Scottie Scheffler will return to action after his brilliant Royal Portrush triumph.
The 3M Open has been staged six times and each edition has taken place at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, including last year’s tournament, which was won by Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas.
At 7,431 yards, this par-71 layout is slightly above average in length, and powerhouses like Matthew Wolff, Cameron Champ and Tony Finau have all won this title.
However, there is more than one way to win golf tournaments, and short-hitting Michael Thompson (2020) and Lee Hodges (2023) relied on a combination of accurate iron play and sharp putting to take the title.
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3M Open TipsSam Burns to win & each-way @ 18/1Cameron Champ to win & each-way @ 50/1Jacob Bridgeman to win & each-way @ 75/1
In-form Burns Poised For Overdue Victory
In the absence of any of the world’s top 15, world No.22 Sam Burns tops the betting at Twin Cities, and there are plenty of reasons to think he can justify favouritism and record an overdue PGA Tour win.
Burns finished 47th at the Scottish Open and 45th at the Open, but he is much more comfortable back in North America, where he has posted eight consecutive top-30 finishes, and he did at least strike the ball encouragingly well at Portrush last week, where the putter let him down.
That’s usually a strength – he tops the strokes-gained putting rankings on the PGA Tour this season. He is also long enough off the tee, and his approach play has been largely exceptional over the last two months.
3M Open form figures of 7-32-12 offer encouragement, particularly as the first two came when he was ranked outside the world’s top 100. After a four-year break, he returned to finish 12th last year.
Champ Can Double Up At Favourite Track
Cameron Champ has never been a player to have complete faith in, but at chunky each-way odds, the Californian looks an excellent each-way price at a track where he has thrived.
Champ won the 2021 3M Open, then he finished 16th there in 2022, snapping a run of five missed cuts, and he was 12th in last year’s tournament having failed to better 50th place in eight preceding events.
The 30-year-old missed the cut at the Barracuda Championship last week, but he’s previously finished ninth at the Canadian Open, 19th at the Rocket Classic, 27th at the John Deere Classic and 14th at the ISCO Championship.
Bridgeman Looks Worth An Each-way Punt
A low 72-hole total will probably be required to win this week and, like Burns, Jacob Bridgeman’s class on the greens could help him to challenge for the top ten.
Bridgeman, who ranks seventh in strokes-gained putting, was 19th on his 3M Open debut last season and fifth in the John Deere in his most recent US appearance.
While he finished 75th in the Scottish Open, making the cut was an achievement given his lack of links experience.
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