The PGA Tour, after a weekend that saw a major championship played in England and an alternate event taking place in Kentucky, returns to a single venue with full fan capacity at the TPC Twin Cities north of the Minneapolis/St. Paul in Minnesota. The course is an Arnold Palmer design and plays to a par 71 at 7,431 yards.
Michael Thompson is the defending champion and a number of top players have chosen to play after appearing in the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s that was won by American Collin Morikawa. The second ranked player in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), Dustin Johnson, is looking to break an eight month winless streak and will be joined in the field by Louis Oosthuizen, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Brian Harman, and Sergio Garcia, among many others.
Oosthuizen held the 54 hole lead at the Open Championship, but his one over par 71 wasn’t nearly good enough to keep from getting passed by Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, and Joh Rahm, with the trio all posting four under par rounds of 66. The 2010 Open Championship winner had to settle for a third place tie with Rahm, his third consecutive top five finish in a major championship.
Dustin Johnson arrives at the betting favorite at +750 odds to win the 3M Open.
Betting Odds for the 3M Open
Despite a top ten finish at Royal St. George’s, Johnson slipped behind Rahm in the OWGR and is the betting favorite at +750, followed by Oosthuizen, who moved into the top ten in the OWGR and has odds of +1100. Patrick Reed missed the cut last week and is at +1400, along with Tony Finau who again turned in a solid major tournament effort with a tie for 15th after a closing round of three under par 67.
Brian Harman shot an opening 65 in England, but went one over par the rest of the way to finish tied for 19th and has odds of +2000, followed by Cameron Tringale at +2500 with Sergio Garcia and Emiliano Grillo at +2800. The 2019 3M champion Matthew Wolff is at +3000 and Bubba Watson has odds of +3300 after both players missed last week’s Open Championship due to Covid-19 protocols.
Favorite Picks
If Oosthuizen can get past the disappointment of a mediocre final round at the Open Championship, he should be in contention again after five top ten finishes in his last six PGA Tour events. His major problem has been closing out tournaments with good finishes on Sunday, breaking 70 over the final 18 holes just once in his last 12 PGA Tour starts.
Eventually, it will be time for Tony Finau to have a good putting week and end his five year victory drought since getting his first win on Tour at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. His last top ten came in the PGA Championship, but solid recent play isn’t always a recipe for winning a tournament, especially the way the 31-year-old strikes the golf ball.
Lefthander Brian Harman has been playing well despite a missed cut at the John Deere Classic two weeks ago. He has four top ten finishes in his last 11 outings and five since the beginning of the 2021 calendar year, so he should be able to make a run at his first win since the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship.
