Justin Thomas isn’t entering this week’s 3M Open under the best of circumstances.
It’s no secret that if the superstar was playing better and had already secured hits spots both in the FedExCup playoffs and on the US Ryder Cup team, the 30-year-old likely wouldn’t be flying back across the pond to Minnesota to play the week following a major championship. The 3M Open begins Thursday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine.
But, luckily for this state’s golf fans, it’s been a tough-luck season for Thomas, meaning they’ll get a first-hand look at one of the faces of the game. The tournament will surely roll out the red carpet for Thomas in hopes that his experience in Blaine is so positive that he’ll return in the future, even when his game is in better shape.
That’s the game tournaments like the 3M Open, which aren’t steeped in tradition and don’t have the most favorable position on the Tour’s schedule, have to play. You do everything in your power to get the game’s best to give your event a shot. And if you get those players into the field, you do everything in your power to make sure they come back.
Frankly, the 3M Open has done a good job of the latter in its brief history as a tournament on the world’s top tour.
Dustin Johnson played the 3M Open in consecutive seasons before he joined the LIV tour. Patrick Reed also played at TPC Twin Cities twice before leaving for LIV.
Hideki Matsuyama will be making his third appearance at the 3M Open this week, as will Sungjae Im. Tony Finau, the defending champion, has never played in the event.
Generally, this tournament and its staff creates a pull that keeps players coming back. The hope for the 3M Open and Minnesota golf fans alike is a similar story plays out with Thomas. At the bare minimum, the tournament gets an opportunity to show Thomas what it’s all about.
In an ideal world, it would get a similar shot with every player. Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm would also swing through Blaine at least once. Perhaps, like Finau, they’d decide they liked it here and come back another time.
That’s an opportunity elevated events have been all-but guaranteed this season. Top players were essentially mandated to attend those big-purse events. That strengthened a number of fields this season in events such as the RBC Heritage, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Travelers Championship.
The RBC Heritage and the Travelers both are played the week after majors, when it is difficult to recruit elite players to participate. The 3M Open received no such assistance this year, and had to hustle for its respectable field.
It sure seems like a good idea for the PGA Tour to spread the love a bit when it comes to elevated events by rotating them throughout the schedule. That’s not to say the 3M Open needs to be an elevated event every other year — 3M may not even want to foot the bill for the $20 million purse that elevated events carry that frequently — but if every four or even six years, events like the 3M Open could welcome all of the Tour’s best players, that would be a major win for both the area’s golf community and the PGA Tour.
Minnesota would see what those premier players are all about, and vice versa. And if they liked what they saw, maybe there would even be a second date.