3M Open R1

3M Open 2021 R1
July 22-25
TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota
$6,600,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Rickie Fowler shot a bogey-free 7-under 64 to set the clubhouse lead after the first round of the 3M Open in Minnesota.

3M Open 2021 R1

Fowler’s last win came at the 2019 Phoenix Open and he started the tournament ranked 124th in the FedEx standings, with the top 125 making the playoffs. He has never missed them in eleven seasons on Tour and has two weeks left to make sure he qualifies.

“I know where I’m at, what we need to do and stuff like that. Really just focusing on things we’ve been working on, playing more consistent good golf. More days like today and things will be fine. Kind of keep things, like I said, simple and small, focus on the day-to-day and this week, and go from there. Everything will work out.”

3M Open 2021 R1

He came T53 in last week’s Open Championship at Royal St George’s, finishing at 1-over after rounds of 69-72-75 and a final round 65 that gave him some confidence.

“That [his driving] was something that was kind of holding me back from making birdies, moving forward last week. So today, I mean, going off of what we did Sunday last week, just needed to tighten a few things up. This golf course is fairly generous off the tee. There’s a few lakes, ponds that you just need to avoid. Other than that, it’s go, attack for the most part.”

3M Open 2021 R1

He was joined in the lead by Jhonattan Vegas and local favourite Troy Merritt who fired six birdies in the back nine.

“I’ve seen this golf course now for about 20 years,” said Merritt. “Came to watch the seniors play when I was in high school and got to play it once or twice. It’s just a lot of fun. It’s great for the players, it’s great for the fans, you can make a lot of birdies, the scoring’s usually really low. So, if you like shootouts, this is the golf course for you and you’re going to get another one this week.”

3M Open 2021 R1

Vegas closed his round with a birdie in spite of his approach landing on top of a hospitality tent and being given relief.

“You can barely see the flag,” said Vegas. “We had a number, which we messed up the number trying to play fast. I knew it was going to be long. It was a little bit of a nightmare right at the end.”

Play was delayed for over two hours due to lightning in the area and was called on account of darkness with eleven players yet to finish.

Scott Stallings reached the 18th in 63 and could have equalled the course record of 62 but a double bogey saw him finish with a 65 and a share of fourth place alongside Adam Schenk and Roger Sloan.

Dustin Johnson’s usual caddie, his brother Austin, tested positive for Covid-19 and was replaced by Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade’s vice president of tour operations, who has caddied for him a number of times. He opened with a 70 after four birdies and three bogeys.

“Keith’s worked for me quite a few times; Presidents Cup, U.S. Open, a few events here and there,” said Johnson. “Yeah, we did just fine. Maybe hit the wrong club on a couple holes, but other than that, that was my fault though, I guess.”

3M Open 2021 R1

Pos.	Player	To Par	Thru	R1
T1	Rickie Fowler *	-7	F	64
T1	Troy Merritt	-7	F	64
T1	Jhonattan Vegas	-7	F	64
T4	Scott Stallings	-6	F	65
T4	Adam Schenk	-6	F	65
T4	Roger Sloan *	-6	16
T7	Chris Baker	-5	F	66
T7	Chez Reavie *	-5	F	66
T7	Michael Gellerman	-5	17
T10	Cameron Tringale *	-4	F	67
T10	Maverick McNealy	-4	F	67
T10	Ryan Brehm *	-4	F	67
T10	Bo Hoag	-4	F	67
T10	Josh Teater *	-4	F	67
T10	Chesson Hadley	-4	F	67
T10	Nick Watney	-4	F	67
T10	Ryan Armour *	-4	F	67
T10	Charl Schwartzel	-4	F	67
T10	David Lingmerth *	-4	F	67
T10	Adam Hadwin	-4	F	67
T21	Russell Knox	-3	F	68
T21	Louis Oosthuizen *	-3	F	68
T21	Keegan Bradley *	-3	F	68
T21	Sepp Straka *	-3	F	68
T21	Fabián Gómez *	-3	F	68
T21	Luke List *	-3	F	68
T21	Tom Lewis	-3	F	68
T21	Jimmy Walker *	-3	F	68
T21	Jason Dufner	-3	F	68
T21	Doug Ghim *	-3	F	68
T21	Mark Hubbard	-3	F	68
T21	Erik van Rooyen *	-3	F	68
T21	Beau Hossler *	-3	F	68
T21	Brice Garnett *	-3	F	68
T21	Ted Potter, Jr. *	-3	F	68
T21	Wyndham Clark	-3	F	68
T21	Lucas Herbert *	-3	F	68
T38	Cameron Percy	-2	F	69
T38	Jonathan Byrd	-2	F	69
T38	MJ Daffue	-2	F	69
T38	Michael Gligic *	-2	F	69
T38	Denny McCarthy	-2	F	69
T38	Sam Ryder *	-2	F	69
T38	Stewart Cink	-2	F	69
T38	Dylan Frittelli	-2	F	69
T38	Luke Donald *	-2	F	69
T38	Matthew Wolff	-2	F	69
T38	Keith Mitchell	-2	F	69
T38	Matt Kuchar *	-2	F	69
T38	J.T. Poston	-2	F	69
T38	Brandt Snedeker *	-2	F	69
T38	Camilo Villegas *	-2	F	69
T38	Vincent Whaley	-2	F	69
T38	Scott Brown *	-2	F	69
T38	Hank Lebioda *	-2	F	69
T38	Gary Woodland *	-2	F	69
T38	Steve Stricker	-2	F	69
T38	Kevin Tway	-2	F	69
T38	Rafa Cabrera Bello	-2	F	69
T38	Ben Martin *	-2	F	69
T38	K.H. Lee	-2	F	69
T38	Cameron Champ	-2	F	69
T38	Brian Gay	-2	F	69
T64	Sergio Garcia *	-1	F	70
T64	Dustin Johnson *	-1	F	70
T64	Peter Malnati *	-1	F	70
T64	Bo Van Pelt	-1	F	70
T64	Joel Dahmen	-1	F	70
T64	Mito Pereira *	-1	F	70
T64	John Pak *	-1	F	70
T64	Chris Kirk	-1	F	70
T64	Brandon Hagy *	-1	F	70
T64	James Hahn	-1	F	70
T64	D.A. Points *	-1	F	70
T64	Nate Lashley	-1	F	70
T64	Adam Long *	-1	F	70
T64	Brian Stuard	-1	F	70
T64	Patrick Reed	-1	F	70
T64	Matt Every *	-1	F	70
T64	Kyle Stanley *	-1	F	70
T64	Joseph Bramlett	-1	17
T64	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	-1	17
T83	Shawn Stefani	E	F	71
T83	Zack Sucher	E	16
T83	Norman Xiong *	E	F	71
T83	John Huh *	E	F	71
T83	Cam Davis	E	F	71
T83	Ben Taylor *	E	F	71
T83	Tyler McCumber *	E	F	71
T83	Michael Kim *	E	F	71
T83	Johnson Wagner *	E	F	71
T83	Sung Kang	E	F	71
T83	Hunter Mahan	E	F	71
T83	Bronson Burgoon *	E	F	71
T83	David Hearn *	E	F	71
T83	Robert Streb	E	F	71
T83	Patrick Rodgers *	E	F	71
T83	Ryan Blaum *	E	F	71
T83	Bill Haas *	E	F	71
T83	Rob Oppenheim	E	F	71
T83	Kevin Stadler *	E	F	71
T83	Greg Chalmers	E	F	71
T103	Andrew Landry *	1	F	72
T103	Tony Finau *	1	F	72
T103	Bubba Watson *	1	F	72
T103	Scott Piercy	1	F	72
T103	Robert MacIntyre	1	F	72
T103	Charles Howell III *	1	F	72
T103	Patton Kizzire *	1	F	72
T103	Pat Perez *	1	F	72
T103	Sean O’Hair	1	F	72
T103	Ricky Barnes	1	F	72
T103	Angus Flanagan	1	F	72
T103	Vaughn Taylor *	1	F	72
T103	D.J. Trahan *	1	F	72
T103	Brandon Stone	1	F	72
T103	Tyler Duncan	1	F	72
T103	Lanto Griffin	1	F	72
T103	Scott Harrington	1	F	72
T103	Michael Thompson	1	F	72
T103	Brendon Todd *	1	F	72
T103	Satoshi Kodaira *	1	F	72
T103	Harry Higgs	1	F	72
T103	Aaron Baddeley *	1	F	72
T103	Stephen Stallings Jr.	1	17
T126	Brent Snyder	2	16
T126	Sebastian Cappelen *	2	16
T126	Matthew NeSmith *	2	F	73
T126	Justin Quiban	2	F	73
T126	Chase Seiffert *	2	F	73
T126	Grayson Murray	2	F	73
T126	Will Gordon	2	F	73
T126	Austin Eckroat	2	F	73
T126	J.J. Spaun	2	F	73
T126	Martin Trainer	2	F	73
T126	Richy Werenski	2	F	73
T137	Emiliano Grillo	3	F	74
T137	Tom Hoge	3	F	74
T137	Rhein Gibson *	3	F	74
T137	Ryan Moore	3	F	74
T137	Robby Shelton	3	F	74
T137	Ryan Hall (a) *	3	16
T137	Quade Cummins *	3	F	74
T137	Kris Ventura *	3	F	74
T137	Tom Lovelady *	3	F	74
T137	Mark Anderson	3	17
147	Ben Crane *	4	F	75
T148	Andrew Putnam *	5	F	76
T148	Rafael Campos	5	16
T148	Wes Roach *	5	F	76
151	Nelson Ledesma *	6	F	77
T152	Byeong Hun An	7	F	78
T152	Austin Cook *	7	F	78
T152	John Senden *	7	F	78
155	Dominic Bozzelli	8	F	79
W/D	Sangmoon Bae	E
* Player started on the back nine