3M Open: PGA TOUR brings long overdue event back to Minnesota

The 3M Open is bringing PGA TOUR Golf back to Minnesota for the first time in 50 years. The event is sure to be a boon to one of golf’s most underrated locales.

It’s official: the 3M Open is joining the PGA TOUR schedule in 2019. Golf’s big show is returning to the “Bold North” for the first time in 50 years.

For the uninitiated, Minnesota may not seem like a hotbed of golf, but that’s exactly what it is. And it’s only going to get better when the likes of Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson find their way to Minneapolis.

While the placement of the 3M Open on the TOUR schedule hasn’t been announced yet, it is a welcome addition. Minnesota had first been rumored as a potential landing spot for the Houston Open, as that event searched for a title sponsor.

Houston Astros owner Jim Crane stepped up to save that event, but that didn’t end the TOUR’s interest in Minnesota as a potential host.

"“Minnesota has showcased how good golf is here,” said Hollis Cavner, executive director of Pro Links Sports, which will manage the 3M Open. “It’s time to go to the next level.”"

Unfortunately, this does signal the end of the 3M Championship, a mainstay of the PGA TOUR Champions schedule since 1993. However, as Cavner said, that event’s lasting success was a big part of the calculus involved in this decision.

"“The tour does not want to go anywhere where it’s not going to be successful. Look at how successful we’ve been on the Champions Tour. Look at how successful the PGA was, the Ryder Cup was,” Cavner said. “Seeing what’s happened here in the past was a big, big plus for us.”"

Tom Lehman, Minnesota’s favorite golfing son, helped to design TPC Twin Cities alongside the late, great Arnold Palmer. He’s been outspoken in his desire to bring a full-time TOUR event back to his home state, and he’ll be key in the adjustments to the course following this year’s 3M Championship.

Minnesota’s passion for golf bolster 3M Open, keep the event coming back

As someone who has lived in the Gopher State for nearly 25 years, I have to admit, I get a lot of joy out of this. Even as courses around the Twin Cities have closed in recent years, in the name of high-priced McMansions, Minnesotans maintain a huge love for the game. I fully expect that to carry over to the future 3M Open.

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Really, it’s due to our extremely short playing season. Winter often seems to stretch from October to somewhere around Memorial Day. But whenever the ground is thawed enough to stick a peg in it, Minnesotans tee it up until they can’t anymore.

That passion is what brought the Ryder Cup to Hazeltine in 2016, and it dates back to the 1916 U.S. Open at the Minikhada Club. We may not be blessed with year-round golf, but we do it big when we get it.

Sure, there will be competition for the time and, frankly, dollars of local golf fans. As much as we’d love Houston’s pre-Masters slot, the weather at that time of year is far too unpredictable. Instead, the event is likely to fall into the former Greenbrier slot in the first week of July.

If there’s anything Minnesotans love as much as golf, though, it’s their cabin time. All summer, highways clog up on Friday afternoons (and sometimes much earlier) for families to go “up north” to their cabins. Especially on a holiday weekend, it’ll take an impressive event to keep people in town, even in a northern suburb like Blaine.

Per Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Cavner’s organization (which also has connections to the Valspar Championship and the WGC-Mexico) has plenty of plans already in place. They expect several “top-30 type” players to commit, and there are also designs on a “notable” concert at or near the course.

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At the end of the day, though, I still expect the 3M Open to be a nearly-instant success. Minnesota has been long overdue for the PGA TOUR to come back, and fans will be thrilled that their passion is being recognized.

It might not be Phoenix levels of wild, but that’s okay. The PGA TOUR and any player who makes the trek will find out just what “Minnesota Nice” can be. And that will keep them coming back for years to come.

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