2021 3M Open: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Twin Cities
It’s time to recalibrate to parkland style golf. The 3M Open this year gets the slot on the schedule following The Open, this year held on the links of Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England.
Of course, others in this week’s 156-player field also come from more comparable climes at the PGA Tour’s alternate field event, the Barbasol Championship, which was in Kentucky.
Holding this spot on the schedule isn’t ideal on the surface, especially with plenty of top talent preparing for next week’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Nonetheless, the 3M Open is still netting some big names in just its third edition.
World No. 2 Dustin Johnson is the headliner. This was the sight of his low point in 2020 when he withdrew after some lousy golf here and at the Memorial. DJ regrouped later in the year to win the Masters and is back to Minnesota to redeem himself in The Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Patrick Reed, recent Open contender Louis Oosthuizen and Tony Finau are a few more notables.
TPC Twin Cities is an Arnold Palmer/Tom Lehman design that opened in 2000. It hosted a PGA Tour Champions event by the same 3M Open name from 2001-2018 before bumping up to the PGA Tour.
The course played relatively easy for the 50-plus crowd back in the day with wide fairways, large greens and soft conditions posing little problem.
The fairways have since been narrowed and other tweaks have been made to try to add some teeth.
There are plenty of bunkers, man-made water hazards and above average length rough to pose some trouble, but birdies are still the name of the game to contend at the 3M Open.
It’s a par-71 measuring 7,431 yards. The surface courswide is bentgrass, which is typical for the Midwest.
With average-quality field strengths, winning score was 21-under in 2019 and 19-under last year.
This is a place where good ball strikers and bombers thrive. Distance is an advantage on many holes and missing the fairway is generally not too penal. Short game shots around the green are not too out of the ordinary.
A sampling of stats to keep an eye on are strokes gained off the tee, strokes gained approach, and birdie or better percentage.
It’s been a fairly dry, warm summer in Minnesota, so perhaps conditions will be firmer than normal, but don’t count on TPC Twin Cities resembling anything close to what we saw last week across the pond.
The forecast for the week is mostly dry with temperatures in the 70s-90s and light wind.
The majors are over in 2021 and the FedEx Cup Playoffs loom a month away. It’s time for players to jostle for position.
Here are 10 players who can help their stead and contend for the title this week in the Twin Cities metro.
This article was updated Monday to replace Seamus Power and Brian Harman who withdrew.