The PGA Tour heads to the Twin Cities this weekend for the 3M Open, and all eyes are going to be on Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama, and Sung-Jae Im, the only three top 25 players in the field.
The thing is, neither Finau, Matsuyama, or Im played very well in Scotland the last two weekends, and with the heavy travel demands 3M Open betting could really be ripe to play the underdogs. This is a difficult field to navigate, but here are some golfers who have a good chance of finding themselves in the running on Sunday.
Davis Riley +2200
So maybe he’s not that big of an underdog, but Riley still has to be considered as the best of the ‘second tier’ players. Most people assume it’s just a matter of time before Riley captures his first Tour win, perhaps as early as this weekend at TPC Twin Cities.
Riley has made the cut in eight straight tournaments, finishing in the top 15 in six of those. He also doesn’t have to deal with a trip back across the pond, with his last Tour event being the Travelers Championship at the end of June.
Chris Gotterup 40/1
Two of the three previous winners of the 3M Open have kind of come out of nowhere, Matthew Wolff in just his seventh PGA start and Michael Thompson, who had shown some previous success at TPC courses.
In many ways Gotterup fits that same profile, as this weekend will be his seventh Tour event with his best finish coming at the John Deere Classic (T4) at TPC Deere Run. If Gotterup were eligible with more rounds played, he’d lead the Tour in driving distance (323.1), which never hurts.
Brice Garnett 60/1
Course history gives Garnett an advantage as he and Finau are the only two players in the field to finish in the top 30 in the three previous incarnations of the 3M Open. Garnett has had one bad round in each of his three trips here, shooting below 70 in 9 of 12 rounds to finish 23rd, 26th, and 16th.
Cameron Champ +6600
Pretty solid odds on the defending ‘Champ’ especially with the diluted field following a major. One thing that TPC Twin Cities favors – as many TPC Courses do – is distance, with Jhonnathan Vegas and Keith Mitchell both finishing in the top five last year while having two of the four longest driving distances for the weekend.
Champ is the current Tour leader in driving distance (320.2) which instantly has to have him in consideration for the repeat.
Brian Gay +500000
One of TPC Twin Cities’ unique characteristics are some exceptionally large greens, which have led to a 73% GIR average from the field. With it somewhat easy to get on the green, the advantage is going to go to players who can get the ball in from there and Gay is the Tour leader in shots gained putting.
Champ won this event last year thanks largely in part to leading the field in putts per GIR (1.630).
