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Vincenzi: 2023 3M Open First Round Leader picks

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The PGA Tour makes its return to TPC Twin Cities to play the 2023 3M Open. The course features some wide fairways, but there’s also plenty of danger on the course as well, with water all over the course. Players who bomb it off the tee have won on three of the four occasions the tournament has been played, but players can also contend with sharp iron play and hot putting.

In the past four editions of the 3M Open, there have been eight first-round leaders or co-leaders. Of the eight, four started their rounds in the morning wave, and four started in the afternoon. Five of the eight first-round leaders have started on the first hole and three have started on the 10th.

As of now, the winds don’t look to favor any starting time. The wind will be blowing 6-12 MPH all day with gust about 16-20 MPH.

2023 3M Open First-Round Leader Picks

Nicolai Hojgaard +6000 (FanDuel)

First-Round Tee Time: 2:22 p.m. CT

Nicolai Hojgaard is coming off of a Open Championship where he played really well but didn’t feel the weight of contending over the weekend. He gained strokes both off the tee and on approach and his power and style of play should suit TPC Twin Cities nicely.

In his past 24 measured rounds, Hojgaard ranks 6th in Birdie or Better Gained, 14th in Eagles Gained and 14th in Opportunities Gained.

Nicolai gives us an afternoon tee time to chase the lead late on Thursday.

Chesson Hadley +9000 (FanDuel)

First-Round Tee Time: 8:24 a.m. CT

Chesson Hadley typically gets hot around this time of year and showed that he may be starting to gain some form at last week’s Barracuda Championship. Chesson finished in a tie for 6th at the event and was especially good on Sunday. He shot a 65 and had five birdies and an eagle.

Hadley also has had some success at TPC Twin Cities, including a 10th place finish last year. He opened the week with three consecutive rounds in the 60’s before struggling on Sunday.

The 36-year-old’s streaky nature and ability to catch fire on the greens make him an ideal first-round-leader play this week.

Chez Reavie +9000 (FanDuel)

First-Round Tee Time: 7:18 a.m. CT

Chez Reavie has been playing great golf over the past month and has gained at least three strokes on approach in each of his past four measured starts. He also does a lot of things well that I look for in a first-round-leader bet. In his past 24 rounds, Chez ranks in the top 20 in this field in: Strokes Gained: Putting (18th), Eagles Gained (16th) and Oppurtunites Gained (6th).

Reavie finished 11th here in 2021 and can get his irons hot enough to overcome his lack of power off the tee.

James Hahn +11000 (FanDuel)

First-Round Tee Time: 8:13 a.m. CT

James Hahn found himself deep in contention at last year’s 3M Open. He shot a 65 on Sunday to finish in a tie for 4th place. For the week, he gained 6.3 strokes on approach and 5.5 strokes putting.

Hahn is another player who played well at last week’s Barracuda Championship. He opened with an impressive round that included three birdies and two eagles and was a +14 for the round (Stableford scoring).

Hahn will be looking to carry the momentum from his strong performance into a hot start at the 3M Open.

Marty Dou +12500 (FanDuel)

First-Round Tee Time: 8:35 a.m. CT

Marty Dou showed his talent at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, finishing 17th and posting four rounds in the 60’s. Dou ranks 5th in the field in his past 24 rounds in Birdie or Better: Gained and can get hot in a hurry.

The 26-year-old is the type of golfer who can go really low at any given time. That was once again on display at last week’s Barracuda Championship, where he shot the round of the day on Friday (+16 Stableford). His round included seven birdies and an eagle.

Dou can use his scoring ability to post a low one on Thursday at TPC Twin Cities.

19th Hole

‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

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An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.

However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.

Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.

Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”

Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.

Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.

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How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

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Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.

Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.

Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.

Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.

“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course.  Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”

According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.

“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”

Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.

Check out Young’s winning WITB here.

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19th Hole

Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

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Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.

Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.

The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.

Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”

“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”

Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.

However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.

“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”

Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.

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