Sandy Lane previews this week’s PGA Tour event, the 3M Open, to be played at TPC Twin Cities in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Last week’s Open Championship, played mostly in weather that was regularly described on TV as ‘filthy’, was a roller-coaster ride for players and spectators alike. Royal Troon bared its teeth, gobbled up five of the world’s top ten players, spat them out, and sent them home on Friday night.
Messrs McIlroy, Aberg, Clark, Hovland and DeChambeau all missed the cut in truly spectacular fashion. At that stage, our man, Shane Lowry (35-1), had a four-shot lead over his nearest rival and played magnificent golf. Shane is often photographed clutching a pint of the black stuff, and I can only think that he hit the Rabbie Burns Tavern in Ayr that evening because his Saturday 77 was a horror show.
In the meantime, Xander Schauffele was steadily advancing his climb up the leaderboard, and when he put his foot on the gas over the back nine on Sunday, it was game over. He fully deserved his victory in a second Major this year after his PGA Championship success. Lowry played much better on Sunday and finished sixth. Our overall loss on the week was 6 points.
This week’s tournament is a very low-key affair played at TPC Twin Cities, the highest course (900 feet above sea level) in the U.S. The Par-71 course, designed by Arnold Palmer and Tom Lehman, opened in 2000 and was toughened up considerably in 2018 when it first received PGA Tour status. It’s still a straightforward course to play, and low scoring is guaranteed despite the fact that water comes into play on nine of the holes.
With all this in mind and taking into account that this is a proper maze because some of the players have had to make the long journey back from Scotland, some of them swerved the Open and others played the Barracuda in California last week instead of crossing the pond, here are my MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Name and current price) selections for the 3M Open. Bets should be placed by 12.45 on Thursday.
CAM DAVIS 33/1 (888): Form in last month’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit usually counts for a lot in the 3M Open. Davis, this year’s Rocket winner is having a good season generally and has terrific form (12-28-16-10) at TPC Twin Cities.
AKSHAY BHATIA 20/1: Second in the Rocket after missing a 4-foot putt on the 72nd hole to force a play-off, Bhatia has been on a roll recently and only missed the cut at the Open by one shot. Before that he had form figures of 16-5-2 and ticks most of the key stats boxes this week.
ERIK VAN ROOYEN 35/1: Sixth in the Rocket, the South African attended the University of Minnesota and will feel very much at home here. He is an excellent ball striker and one of only two players to tick every key stats box.
TONY FINAU 11/1: The other stats box topper is having a wonderful season with form figures of 8-5-3 before a missed cut at Royal Troon. He won this tournament in 2022 and has had two other top 10s in the last four renewals.
SAM STEVENS 60/1 Skybet: Tenth in the Rocket, the 20-year-old has impressed over and over again this season. His strength and perfect balance should help to win plenty of tournaments and he clearly likes it here having finished 10th on debut last year.
LUKE CLANTON 25/1: Could there be another amateur winner (after Nick Dunlap in January) this week? Another top 10 finisher at the Rocket, the 20-year-old Floridian, followed that up with an eye-catching second in the John Deere Classic.
J.T. POSTON 33/1: He may not have set the golfing world alight this season but he always plays his best golf in July and August. With an event formline of 28-11-2 , he looks sure to be in the mix.
Bet 1 point each-way on all and after 3 rounds, beware of Sam Burns 18/1 and Nick Dunlap 40/1.
Good Luck – Sandy Lane