We're a long way from Portrush for this week's PGA Tour event, the 3M Open, but there will be a real sense of urgency even if the prize here is far less significant. Whether you're Tony Finau looking to launch a late bid for the Ryder Cup, or you're one of the dozens in need of a big points haul in order to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs, virtually everyone here has something beyond silverware to play for.

Sam Burns is likely an exception, his place at Bethpage seemingly assured, and having hit the ball well on all three previous starts at TPC Twin Cities, no wonder he's the 16/1 favourite. That could look a good price absent of anyone else guaranteed to be playing in the Ryder Cup and, as he so often does, Burns has found form this summer. He should've stolen the Canadian Open and this is a nice chance to put that right.

Twin Cities isn't extreme in terms of what it demands but it's long enough and driver can unlock the best scoring opportunities. "This is a golf course where you have to drive it well. If you can drive it well out here, you can give yourself a lot of good chances," said 2024 champion Jhonattan Vegas and he's neither alone nor outlandish in that statement: the last three winners ranked first, fifth and first in total driving.

The course is certainly a good fit, as he hinted at on debut with a second-round 66 before fading. In all five visits he's started well (granted, he does that often) and having stayed on for fifth in 2021, he returned two years later to do the same thing. All told an adjusted scoring average of 69.5 puts him in the top 15 of those who've played here three times or more since the event's inception six years ago.

What's more, he's shown a real affinity for these greens, averaging around three strokes better over the course of a tournament than he would currently. In 2019, 2021 and 2023 he actually produced three of the very best putting displays of his career, while in one of these he was also the leading driver, and more recently he's been sharp around the greens despite that not typically being a strength.

In other words he's done everything well here and it's a great place to seal his spot in at least the first two Playoff events from 70th in the FedEx Cup standings.

GARY WOODLAND is just a little further down in 78th at the moment and he strikes me as a bit of a sleeper.

Woodland finished 11th on his debut in the 3M Open back in 2021, doing everything well despite arriving with form figures of MC-50-MC-MC including in the previous week's Open Championship. On his next visit he missed the cut purely because of a badly misfiring short-game, then last year he produced his best result since March and second best of the season, finishing 37th despite holing nothing.

Woodland ranked second in strokes-gained approach and sixth in the tee-to-green stats that week and returns now with his irons having fired twice in his last three starts, and his putter showing plenty of positive signs. In fact, among his last eight measured starts he's ranked first, second, 17th and 21st with that club, so the good has been plenty good enough.