The second annual 3M Open was similar to the year previous, with a number of golfers in contention on Sunday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. Michael Thompson emerged as the winner, an unlikely golfer to come out on top.
Thompson finished -19, shooting a 4-under 67 on Sunday to earn his second career PGA Tour victory.
“Yeah, an unbelievable day. I played really solid golf. I think I only had three bogeys all week. Just really stuck to my game, played Michael Thompson golf, allowed my putter to speak volumes, I think,” he said. “To hit those shots coming down the stretch, those last two holes are not easy … I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect scenario to finish a tournament. To see that go in was just relieving.”
Thompson remained in the lead all day, but there was a horde of golfers vying to take his top spot. Among them was 2019 champion Matthew Wolff, who finished T-12 in defense of his title, shooting -14.
“Yeah, I love this place. You know, the volunteers, everyone — everyone who helped to put this tournament on, thank you. Yeah, it’s a tough way to finish, but I felt like I played really well, really good today. I honestly, I should have made a lot more putts that really didn’t go in,” Wolff said.
Three current and former Gophers in Angus Flanagan, Erik van Rooyen and Tom Lehman competed at the event, shooting +4, +1 and -1 respectively. All three failed to make the cut, with the cut line sitting at -2. For Flanagan, a rising senior at the University, the event was his PGA Tour debut.
Flanagan talked to the media Saturday about what the experience will mean moving into his season at Minnesota.
“I’ll just kind of stick with what I’m doing. Kind of seeing this makes the dream come true, kind of makes it more real for me, and then seeing what scores these guys get and everything like that, it definitely is going to push me to keep practicing and doing what I’m doing every day because I’m definitely seeing improvements in my game,” Flanagan said.
Another notable top finisher was Tony Finau, who is ranked No. 16 in the world. Finau was looking to catch Thompson, but ended up T-3 in the standings, shooting -16.
“I had some great looks down the stretch. I didn’t make the putts I needed to. Numbers 12, 14, 15, I needed to get one of those I felt like kind of coming down the stretch and I wasn’t able to make one of those putts. I had another look on 17, and you’ve got to make those putts to win the tournament, and I wasn’t able to do it today,” Finau said.
Thompson’s second victory on tour came at a quiet and fan-less TPC Twin Cities course, with the only cheers coming from volunteers and nearby houses. But even without the typical noise, the unlikely winner played his game and closed out the tournament with a fantastic finish.
