Two of the longest hitters on the pitch will play the first two rounds together this week as the PGA Tour returns to Minnesota for the second consecutive year. Here are featured groups to watch during the first two rounds of the 3M Open outside Minneapolis, where Dustin Johnson will try to recover from a tough week at Memorial as he headlines this week’s camp (Note: specific tee times released Tuesday afternoon):
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Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood
Johnson won the traveler championship last month, then went on a hot air balloon in consecutive 80 rounds last week at Muirfield Village to finish near the bottom of the group. He will try to bounce back into a grouping of marquees that will include Finau, the 36-hole leader from Ohio last week who ultimately returned to an eighth place finish. Completing the trio will be Fleetwood, who is returning from quarantine to its first launch since The Players was canceled after the opening round.
Matthew Wolff, Max Homa, Burn Grace
Wolff broke into this event last year, winning his first Tour title with an eagle on the 72nd hole. He returns this week as reigning champion after finishing second three weeks ago in Detroit. Joining him will be Homa, who had three top-10s earlier this season and how Wolff clinched his first Tour title last summer, and Grace, who is making her tournament debut and remains the only player to shoot a competing 62 to the male major.
Brooks Koepka, Keith Mitchell, Charles Howell III
Koepka remains looking for a form while battling an annoying left knee injury, with only one top-10 finished since last year’s Tour Championship. This includes a rough double dip in Ohio, as he lost Workday’s cut and finished the T-62 at Memorial. Mitchell clinched the Tour’s inaugural title last year at the Honda Classic and broke a string of three missed straight cuts with a T-22 finale last week, while Howell remains in search of his first top 40 milestone after Sony January Open.
Bubba Watson, Paul Casey, Pat Perez
Watson is making his tournament debut at the TPC Twin Cities after retiring for a T-32 last week at the Memorial despite a 78 opening round. Casey is making his third start since the Tour returned from hiatus, with a T-32 at the Travelers followed by a cut missed last week, while Perez has made three of the four cuts since he returned, including a T-35 at the Workday Charity Open in his last boot.
Video: Despite the penalty for the birdie chip, Jon Rahm wins the Memorial, goes to n. 1 (SMG)
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