Though they may not have known it at the time, organisers had two things in their favour when the 3M Open completed its rare graduation from Champions to PGA Tour event. One was a course which, while off-the-shelf, at least came complete with the sort of 'risk-reward' holes which guarantee a certain form of excitement. The other has been confirmed retrospectively: in winner Matt Wolff and runner-up Collin Morikawa, they had two of the most exciting young players the sport has produced in years taking early steps towards stardom.
A combination of these two factors made for one of the best finishes you're likely to see, as Bryson DeChambeau made eagle to post the clubhouse lead, then watched on as Wolff's eagle confined him to a share of second. It was utterly exhilarating, and the honesty of DeChambeau's expression when he realised his pocket had been picked only served to extend the high.
Of course, there are other factors: Wolff took a lengthy break from April to June as he struggled with his mental health. Returning at Torrey Pines for the US Open was a remarkably bold decision and although doubtless frustrated to fall to 15th in the end, being in the mix for most of the week must be considered above and beyond expectations. After all, he was a 200/1 shot.
Another missed cut at the Travelers might reflect the fact he simply doesn't like Pete Dye's quirky layout, having also struggled there in 2019, and last time out it was only a poor putting week which kept him down the leaderboard at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His approach play actually represented a step up on the US Open, enough to rank 18th in the field.
He'll need to have improved again, but the scope to have done so is there and watching college rival Morikawa win an Open Championship should serve as extra motivation to build on a couple of encouraging starts. Ultimately, in a field so lacking in depth, the upside is enormous and the downsides are factored into quotes of 33/1.
Rickie Fowler and Maverick McNealy are both on the shortlist, the former clearly capable of two or three good rounds and likely to add a fourth soon; the latter bang in-form and on the cusp of a breakthrough if he continues to drive it as well as he has been.
But while the market has very much reacted to McNealy, two fellow former amateur standouts might have been overlooked somewhat and I'm very keen on both PATRICK RODGERS and BEAU HOSSLER at the prices.
The concern with all three of these players would be that they are unlikely to produce the sort of strokes-gained approach numbers of the last two champions, in a way that say Doug Ghim might. Both Rodgers and Hossler rank outside the top 180 for the season and it would be fair to say that at times, good iron play has been the missing piece of the jigsaw for them.
However, where Rodgers is concerned he's improved markedly of late, gaining strokes in three of his last four starts. Alongside this his improvement off the tee is eye-catching: having not ranked inside the top 10 for any event from March 2020 to June 2021, on the back of 13th at the US Open he's been third, third and sixth in his last three starts.
Hossler was on course for something like field-leading off-the-tee stats here last year but failed to make the weekend, because his approaches were poor. That however was normal at the time, as he'd missed all four cuts since the June resumption and hadn't done anything good with his irons. A year on, and his improvement is marked.
Quite simply, he's done it twice in his last three starts. First, Hoag was the best in the field at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where his short-game went missing. Then, after a perfectly solid effort at the John Deere, he ranked third in the same department in the Barbasol, again failing to capitalise because of the putter.
Nevertheless 11th place was still his best finish since he was 12th here last year. The next? Thirteenth place in the Memorial, and this is all significance because Hoag, who is from Ohio, is another who has shown clear signs that he is more comfortable, more capable, when he's up in this part of the US.
With his sole Korn Ferry Tour win having come in 22-under he does have the skills for a shootout, and though putting is the department in which he's losing strokes this year, on several occasions it's been the reason for a good week, including when 12th on his sole start in this.
Rounds of 65 and 63 suggest Twin Cities is a decent fit and at 125th in FedEx Cup points, he'll see this as the best opportunity he has to lock up a card for the 2021/22 season.
Doing the locals angle to death will no doubt go down well but having put up ERIK VAN ROOYEN at 45/1 here last year I think there are sufficient grounds for giving him another chance at almost three-times the price.
First, he made 10 birdies across the 36 holes and, after I'd published my preview, spoke at length about how familiar he is with the course. Van Rooyen went to college in Minnesota, as did his caddie, and it's where he met his wife whose family are from the area.
"We played this golf course a ton when I went to school here," he said. "Played the back nine yesterday and all those memories came flashing back, so it's really special for me to be here. And like you said, it's somewhat of a homecoming."
That didn't do him much good when he ran up a catastrophic eight at his fifth hole, but van Rooyen played well bar that mishap and struck the ball to a good standard throughout the second round, and indeed for much of the first.
The reason he's 125/1 is a poor run of form, missing three cuts in his last four starts. However, all three were in majors, and only during the second round of the PGA Championship has he really struggled. Otherwise the margins have been particularly fine, and in among this stretch he's both qualified for the US Open, and finished 10th in the Palmetto Championship (three shots behind the winner, compatriot Garrick Higgo).
Anyway, first is BO VAN PELT, another who is from nearby having been born and raised in Indiana. Silly? Maybe, but he twice contended for the Buick Open in Michigan, that's from five starts, his sole (official) win on the PGA Tour came in Wisconsin, some of his best form came at the Memorial, he was second to Tiger Woods in Maryland, and third in the 2010 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone.
Those are, unequivocally, his best performances, and if you're willing to trawl through the transcripts you'll find that during just about every one of them, he referenced where they were, how comfortable it makes him feel, why the grass types suit him better, and the fact that he gets extra support up here. And the bottom line is this: if he feels like he is a better player in Minnesota than he is in Texas, that's worth something.
The one bright spark came here, when he ranked 11th in approaches and 17th in putting on his way to 12th. His form beforehand read MC-WD-MC and it was a surprise performance which may tell us nothing.
However, combined with improvements in his driving and approach play over the last fortnight, during which he's putted well, it's enough to chance a player who turned 40 in April and might look to the likes of Lucas Glover and find the belief required to have one more crack at this game.
Posted at 1245 BST on 20/07/21
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