The 3M Open
Preview for the 3M Open: The PGA Tour has a bit of a hangover at the moment given The Open Championship just wrapped up and it was, unfortunately, the last major of 2023, but no need to worry since there are some big events still on the schedule including the playoffs which are just around the corner. This year marks just the 5th edition of the 3M Open, making it one of the newer events on the PGA Tour. The 3M Open winners over the last four years include Tony Finau in 2022, Cameron Champ in 2021, Michael Thompson in 2020, and Matthew Wolff in 2019.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $7.8M; the winner collects $1.4M and also earns 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: TPC Twin Cities is 7,431 yards long, is a par 71, and the big greens are bentgrass. The winning score at this tournament over the last four editions ranges from -15 to -21, so expect a score in this range again this week. In order, some key stats to focus on this week are strokes gained: total, strokes gained: around the green, driving accuracy percentage, strokes gained: approach and strokes gained: putting.
The 2023 3M Open: 144 players are in action this week, so we’re 12 players short of a full-field event, and the top 65 players plus ties after round 2 will move on to play round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday. We have a weak field, but some notable players include Tony Finau, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama, and other decent talent. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for the 3M Open. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the 3M Open this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Hideki Matsuyama, Sepp Straka, Emiliano Grillo, Ryan Fox, Austin Eckroat, Eric Cole, Mark Hubbard, Justin Suh, Aaron Rai, and Nicolai Hojgaard.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Austin Eckroat, Adam Hadwin, Mark Hubbard, Sepp Straka, Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama, Emiliano Grillo, J.T. Poston, Gary Woodland, and Patrick Rodgers.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 6 rounds) at this event since 2018? Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Emiliano Grillo, Adam Hadwin, J.T. Poston, Adam Long, Hank Lebioda, Cameron Davis, James Hahn, and Brice Garnett.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $10.9K) – He typically doesn’t do so well after playing well at a major tournament, but I got to believe that he’s hungry to win for the first time on the PGA Tour and this event is one of the easier ones to win given the field strength. He has back-to-back T8’s including his T8 last week at The Open Championship where he gained an insane 16.83 strokes ball-striking, and if he didn’t lose 6.12 strokes with his short game, he could have been firmly in contention. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: none.
Emiliano Grillo (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – Grillo played well last week to secure a T6 at The Open Championship thanks to strong ball-striking and putting. He won six starts ago, and has three top 15’s in those six starts. He had a T2 last year and a T3 three years ago gaining more than 16 strokes ball-striking between those two starts, so he can really tear up this course on approach and off the tee. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T2, 2021 – cut, and 2020 – T3.
Sepp Straka (Salary: DraftKings – $9.5K) – He’s really hot again as he won two starts ago at the John Deere Classic and is coming off a T2 last week at The Open Championship gaining 10.84 strokes ball-striking and another 3.11 putting. He hasn’t been so good here just yet but his top 20 three years ago was because he gained 10.33 strokes ball-striking and another 2.80 on the greens. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – cut, 2020 – T18, and 2019 – cut.
J.T. Poston (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – Poston is riding another heater thanks to outstanding short game play with two T6’s over his last three starts and he had a T41 last week at The Open Championship and almost gained strokes across the board. He has been good at this venue, especially last year narrowly missing out on a top 10 finish. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T11 and 2021 – T28.
Nicolai Hojgaard (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – I really like what Nicolai has done over his last three starts finishing top 23 in each and that includes The Open Championship and the Scottish Open where he locked down a T6 through sound ball-striking and around the green play. We haven’t seen him here before, but he should do well if his solid ball-striking continues. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: none.
Eric Cole (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) has made six consecutive cut lines, had a T6 at the Canadian Open, T24’s at the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship, and a T39 at the U.S. Open. His DNA is largely based on good approach play and putting, two big keys to success in golf. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: none.
Austin Eckroat (Salary: DraftKings – $7.5K) – He has three top 10’s in 2023 so far, including a T2 at the Byron Nelson and a T10 at the U.S. Open. He has also only missed one cut line over his last nine starts, so he’s a fairly safe mid-tier player. He played well here last year in his debut thanks to great approach play and putting gaining almost 10 strokes combined between those two stat categories. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T16.
Doug Ghim (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Ghim had six consecutive top 33’s before missing the cut at the Scottish Open, but I won’t hold it against him since he’s not used to international play. He has two top 18’s at this event over the last three years, and his stat lines look fairly good, so I can confidently endorse Doug this week. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T16, 2021 – cut, 2020 – T18.
Chez Reavie (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – He has made eight straight cut lines and has only missed one during his last twelve starts with three top 11’s and two other top 29’s during the stretch. He just missed out on getting into the top 10 here two years ago, and should be good for a top 40 finish this week with some upside. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T49 and 2021 – T11.
Greyson Sigg (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – Sigg has two top 19’s over his last four starts and had a T7 here a year ago thanks to gaining 9.31 strokes ball-striking and was decent on the greens – I can see him doing something similar this week but don’t expect another top 10. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T7.
Adam Long (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – He has three top 25’s here since 2020 including a 2nd three years ago since he gained strokes across the board. The bad news for Long is he has missed four cut lines over his last five starts, so there’s lots of risk here, but he’s the only $6K player that I can somewhat get behind this week. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T16, 2021 – T25, 2020 – 2nd, and 2019 – cut.
Adam Hadwin (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – The Canuck finished T2 two starts ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, had a T12 at the Canadian Open four starts ago, and has gained strokes on approach in five straight starts. Hadwin has been solid at this tournament with two top 6’s in his last three appearances thanks to stout ball-striking and putting. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T38, 2021 – T6, and 2019 – T4.
Lucas Glover (Salary: DraftKings – $8.2K) – Glover has been extremely impressive over his last three starts going T4-T6-5th and has gained 24+ strokes ball-striking during his torrid stretch. He hasn’t faired so well here, but did collect a T7 four years ago and could do it again given his most impressive run that he’s currently on. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2020 – cut, and 2019 – T7.
Hideki Matsuyama (Salary: DraftKings – $10.0K) – He hasn’t had a top 10 since his 5th at THE PLAYERS Championship in March, but does have several teen finishes since then – five, in fact. His T7 here four years ago was because of his strong ball-striking gaining 9.27 strokes, and he could easily repeat that this week given he’s one of if not the most accomplished golfer in this field. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – WD and 2019 – T7.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $10.3K) – Im was right in the mix to win here last year and tied for 2nd with Emiliano Grillo thanks to gaining 10.65 strokes ball-striking and gained strokes in every major stat category, as well. He’s coming off a T20 last week at The Open Championship and has three top 29’s over his last four starts. The 3M Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T2 and 2019 – T15.
