There’s only two weeks and therefore two more tournaments for players to qualify for the season ending FedEx Cup Playoffs. This week’s
The 2023 3M Open is the 43rd of 44 PGA TOUR events in the FedExCup Regular Season. New in 2023, only the top 70 in the FedExCup standings will qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship (the first Playoffs event), down from 125 (2009-2022). Notable players outside the top 70 in the FedExCup standings include No. 75 Justin Thomas, No. 90 Gary Woodland and No. 118 Billy Horschel.
Naturally LIV players are not eligible (Cam Smith, Marc Leishman etc), so at this stage Australia will only be represented by Jason Day (currently ranked #11).
Cam Davis (#77) and Adam Scott (#80) are the only players with a realistic chance of making the grade, although Aaron Baddeley (#109), Harison Endycott (#124), Cameron Percy (#145) and Lucas Herbert (#147) all have a chance if they can perform well and win one of the final two events.
2023 3M Open EVENT DETAILS
Date: July 24-30 Blaine, Minnesota
Course: TPC Twin Cities • Par 71 • 7,431 yds.
Purse: $7.8 million • Winner $1,404,000 + 500 FedExCup pts.
156 players • 72-hole stroke play
Defending champion Tony Finau
Tony Finau, the second-highest-ranked player in the field at No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is making his second start this season as the defending champion, previously missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. With wins this season at the Cadence Bank Houston Open and the Mexico Open at Vidanta, Finau is one of six players with multiple titles on TOUR this season, along with Jon Rahm (4), Max Homa (2), Scottie Scheffler (2), Wyndham Clark (2), Keegan Bradley (2) and Rory McIlroy (2). With a win, Finau would become the fourth player to successfully defend a title this season, joining Homa (Fortinet Championship), McIlroy (THE CJ CUP) and Scheffler (WM Phoenix Open) and the second with three or more victories this season, joining Rahm.
Justin Thomas is currently No. 75 in the FedExCup standings with two weeks remaining until the start of the FedExCup Playoffs. Thomas, in his ninth season as a TOUR member, has never missed the Playoffs. He has advanced to the TOUR Championship in each of the last seven seasons and finished in the top 10 in the standings in the last six, including his FedExCup title in 2017. Thomas has the most PGA TOUR wins (15) and major championship titles (2) of any player in the field and is also the most recent PLAYERS Championship winner (2021) and FedExCup Champion (2017).
24 players in the field are making the trip from The Open Championship, including three that finished in the top 10: Sepp Straka (T2), Emiliano Grillo (T6) and Cameron Young (T8).
Straka has a win (John Deere Classic) and a T2 (The Open Championship) in his last two starts, becoming the first player to win on TOUR and finish runner-up in his next start since Jordan Spieth in 2022 (Won/RBC Heritage, 2nd/AT&T Byron Nelson). Straka is No. 15 in the FedExCup standings, the second-highest of any player in the field (Finau/10), and is attempting to qualify for the TOUR Championship for the second consecutive season.
Grillo, who won the Charles Schwab Challenge earlier this season for his second career PGA TOUR title, has two top-fives in three starts at the 3M Open, including a T2 in 2022. His T6 at The Open Championship was his first career top-10 in a major.
At No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Young is the highest-ranked player in the field. He is also the highest-ranked player in the OWGR that has not won on the PGA TOUR. Young is making his tournament debut at the 3M Open.
Patrick Rodgers lost in a playoff to Akshay Bhatia at last week's Barracuda Championship, earning the fourth runner-up of his career and second via playoff (2018 RSM Classic). Since Rodgers joined the PGA TOUR at the start of the 2015-16 season, he has made 219 starts, the most of any player without a win in that span (second: 212, Scott Stallings). The last player to lose in a playoff and win the following week was Patrick Cantlay in 2022 (lost in a playoff at the RBC Heritage, won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans the following week with partner Xander Schauffele).
Two-time PGA TOUR winner Sungjae Im finished T2 at the 2022 3M Open and is making his 150th career start on the PGA TOUR. Since the start of his rookie season, only two players have made more starts on the PGA TOUR than Im's 147 (149/Tom Hoge, 149/Adam Schenk). Im has seven top-10s this season but none in his last eight starts.
Stillwater, Minnesota native Frankie Capan III is competing on a sponsor exemption. Capan is currently No. 34 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List and the top 30 at the end of the season will earn PGA TOUR cards for 2024. This is his third career start on the PGA TOUR (MC/2016 Puerto Rico Open, MC/2023 U.S. Open).