After Ryan Fox won The Open at Royal Birkdale, we return across the Atlantic for the 3M Open from TPC Twin Cities.
Held in Blaine, just north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the competition has been affected by weather in the past, with strong winds occasionally tempering scoring, but conditions look ideal for this week and the course will likely be very gettable, with the winning score around 20-under-par.
With water acting as the course's primary defence, players need to be accurate off the tee and with the course being a fairly long par-71, length is also advantageous, but the tournament is typically won by who can create the most birdie chances with the irons and convert them with the putter.
Water comes into play off the tee on holes 2, 7, 14, 16 and 18 as well as the par-3 17th. As far as second shots are concerned, there’s water danger on 2, 5, 9, 14 and 18.
Being a longer course where there's little be gained by laying up off the tee, players will frequently be handed driver by their caddie, giving the better drivers the chance to create some separation with the big stick, though even shorter hitters can see their ball flying a little further than usual with TPC Twin Cities sitting around 900 feet in the air.
Finally, the green complexes are bentgrass which was recently in use at the ISCO Championship, the John Deere Classic, the Rocket Classic, the Travelers Championship and the Memorial, so strong putters on that surface may be worth considering.
On the back of The Open, most of the world's top players are taking a week off ahead of the play-offs, though Scottie Scheffler makes his first appearance at the event and naturally tops our Power Rankings.
Who makes the rest of the top five? Find out below.
5 - Maverick McNealy
Without ever being particularly close to winning, Maverick McNealy has quietly established himself as one of the best players in the world. According to the Data Golf rankings where he sits 20th – above the likes of Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau and Shane Lowry – McNealy is the 12th best American and is surely eyeing up a place on the Presidents Cup team.
McNealy’s two best finishes this season have been T10s at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Memorial Tournament, but he’s been in the top 25 for nine out of his 17 appearances this season.
A missed cut at The Open last week won’t do his chances any harm at Twin Cities, where he was T16 on debut in 2021 and finished two shots back of Jhonattan Vegas in 2024 after sharing the lead on the back nine on Sunday.
4 - Jackson Koivun
Jackson Koivun must feel like the world is watching him at the moment. Very well backed after his superb effort at the US Open for his first PGA Tour appearance as a professional at the John Deere Classic, Koivun missed the cut by four shots.
Despite that, he was sent off favourite for the ISCO Championship the following week, where he was a much improved T10, collecting a first pay cheque of $93,000.
Koivun opted to skip last week’s Corales, clearly putting his attentions on the 3M Open, where his remarkable amateur career still carries plenty of water.
A solid ball striker and excellent putter, it will be fascinating to see how the 21-year-old fares this week.
3 - Tom Kim
Tom Kim has seemingly taken a real shine to golf in the United Kingdom. His Scottish Open win at the Renaissance Club came after results of 3-T6-T15-T17, but his missed cut at last week’s Open was his third in a row.
Nevertheless, Kim has shown a significant improvement in form after a really challenging 18 months in which his PGA Tour card could have been in jeopardy but for previous victories.
Kim was T6 at Myrtle Beach before back-to-back T54s at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and the Charles Schwab Challenge. Kim then posted four rounds in the 60s at the RBC Canadian Open before an excellent T3 at the US Open, finishing three back of Wyndham Clark.
Kim has now gained strokes on approach in each of his last eight appearances and 13 of his last 14, and is rounding into form nicely, ranking second for SG: APP over the last eight weeks as per Golf Betting System.
2 - Kurt Kitayama
Last year’s winner, Kurt Kitayama represents the closest challenge to Scottie Scheffler this week.
An excellent ball striker, Kitayama has too often been let down by a shaky putter, but even that has cooperated more this season, gaining strokes on the greens nine times in 17 appearances, ranking ninth at the Scottish Open on extremely challenging putting surfaces.
Kitayama’s form has been very impressive over the last three months, recording top 10s at the RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship – both Signature Events – and finishing T10 at the PGA Championship after blitzing a final-round 63.
Kitayama also has three top-25s at the Truist Championship, the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship, suggesting he’s becoming more comfortable in stellar company.
It’s a drop in class for the 33-year-old, who was T6 on debut at Twin Cities before winning last year, and a repeat can’t be ruled out.
1 - Scottie Scheffler
A big surprise when the news came out in May that Scottie Scheffler would be pegging it up at TPC Twin Cities, the world number one is the star attraction this week.
Scheffler’s schedule in the modified PGA Tour calendar doesn’t typically veer much from the Signature Events, majors, FedExCup play-offs, the Phoenix Open and two or three tournaments in his native Texas, making it all the more surprising he’s appearance in Minnesota this week.
At various points on Sunday afternoon at Royal Birkdale, one of four players looked to have had one hand on the Claret Jug, with Scheffler never quite in the frame owing to another poor putting week.
At Birkdale, Scheffler ranked first for SG: T2G and second for SG: Ball-striking, but ranking 14th for SG: P on the PGA Tour this season suggests there’s little wrong with the flat stick.
Scheffler struggled with his approach play earlier in the season but has turned that around over the last few months, gaining at least 1.30 strokes approach in five out of his last eight tournaments.
The game appears to be there for Scheffler, and that second win of the season can’t be far away.
