Tag: 2023 3M Open

Watch: Alabama’s Nick Saban congratulates Lee Hodges on first PGA Tour win

Hodges celebrated his win with a special call from one of the best coaches of all time.

Alabama men’s golf coach Jay Seawell got plenty of TV time on Sunday as he waited by the 18th green to congratulate his former player Lee Hodges as he closed out a dominant performance to win the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota by seven strokes. But Seawell wasn’t the only Alabama coach who was watching.

Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban is a golfer in his spare time, who has played in numerous PGA Tour pro-ams over the years and his love of the game previously has been chronicled in the pages of Golfweek. Saban called Seawell, who handed the phone to Hodges and congratulated him on his maiden victory in his 65th career start on the Tour. Hodges proceeded to call the 71-year-old Saban, who has won seven national titles as a head coach, the most in college football history, “dude,” “man” and “bud.”

“I usually watch at night and I was rooting for you,” Saban said.

“There’s not many times you win by seven, so it was pretty fun,” Hodges said.

Quickly, the conversation shifted to Hodges’s love of Crimson Tide football.

“You guys get after it, all right?” Hodges told him. “Good luck this season, coach. I appreciate you calling.”

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With Hodges staked to a big lead heading into the final round, Seawell flew in to walk the final 18 with Hodges, who transferred to his team in 2016 after two seasons at University of Alabama-Birmingham.

“I looked up on 18 when I was about to putt and saw him,” Hodges said.

Coach Seawell kept a longtime team tradition of his alive and handed Hodges a milkshake after he closed the deal with one final birdie tap-in birdie at 18 at TPC Twin Cities.

“That’s our Alabama thing,” Hodges said. “Anytime we won a tournament he would take us to get milkshakes. So that was incredible that he was here and that he brought me a milkshake. I mean, you can’t even make that up. That’s super special, something I’ll remember forever.”

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‘We’re not coming here to finish second’: Late triple bogey costs J.T. Poston $260K

Poston made the decision to go for the win, and it came at a heavy cost.

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Standing on the 18th tee on Sunday afternoon, J.T. Poston was three shots down and knew he needed to do something special to catch, or at the very least put the pressure on, Lee Hodges.

His drive found the right rough, leaving a difficult approach to the green guarded by water to the front. Instead of laying up and simply playing for birdie to solidify a solo second-place finish, Poston hit the gas and went for the green.

“I mean, at the end of the day it’s not the way I wanted to end, but I had to try and give it a shot and see if there was some way I could make 3 there at the end and put some pressure on Lee,” said Poston after the round. “It was a shot that was going to be hard to pull off, but we weren’t playing for second place. I had to give it a shot.”

Poston had 220 yards to the pin and needed 215 yards to cover the water. He wasn’t worried about the club not covering, it was getting the ball in the air that was going to be the issue. He liked the lie and went for it.

“It came out great. It had plenty of distance, it just came out low and didn’t cover. We couldn’t see it hit,” said Poston of his approach, which hit a rock and then ricocheted off a floating 3M sign before dropping in the drink.

“We’re not coming here to finish second. At the end of the day we were trying to do something special and try and win,” said Poston, who never considered the players tied for third when making his decision to go for the green. “I wouldn’t want to be sleeping tonight wondering ‘what if I had just laid it up instead of trying to go for it.’ No regrets on the decision. Tried to do what we could to win.”

“Unfortunately, made 8 there at the last, but overall it was a good week,” said Poston. “Game’s in a great spot, I’m playing good, so excited about where it’s at going into the rest of the season.”

The 30-year-old currently sits No. 49 on the FedEx Cup standings and is in prime position to make a run to the Tour Championship at East Lake. Over the last month, Poston has finished T-6, T-6, T-41, T-2 and has some wind in his sails as he heads to this week’s Wyndham Championship, where he won for the first time on Tour back in 2019.

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2023 3M Open prize money payouts for each PGA Tour player

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour.

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It pays to play well on the PGA Tour. Just ask this week’s winner, Lee Hodges.

The 28-year-old won the 2023 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota for his first-ever PGA Tour victory on Sunday. Hodges shot a 4-under 67 in the final round to finish at 24 under, seven shots clear of Martin Laird, Kevin Streelman and J.T. Poston, who all finished T-2 at 17 under.

For his efforts, Hodges will take home the top prize of $1.4 million, while Laird, Streelman and Poston each earned $590,200,

Check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2023 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities.

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2023 3M Open prize money

Position Player Score Earnings
1  Lee Hodges -24 $1,404,000
T2  J.T. Poston -17 $590,200
T2  Kevin Streelman -17 $590,200
T2  Martin Laird -17 $590,200
T5  Dylan Wu -16 $301,275
T5  Keith Mitchell -16 $301,275
T7  Aaron Baddeley -15 $245,050
T7  Tony Finau -15 $245,050
T7  Sam Ryder -15 $245,050
T10  Cam Davis -14 $196,950
T10  Sam Stevens -14 $196,950
T10  Emiliano Grillo -14 $196,950
T13  Nick Hardy -13 $135,664.28
T13  Callum Tarren -13 $135,664.28
T13  Garrick Higgo -13 $135,664.28
T13  Billy Horschel -13 $135,664.28
T13  Alex Noren -13 $135,664.28
T13  Beau Hossler -13 $135,664.28
T13  Zac Blair -13 $135,664.28
T20  Aaron Rai -12 $82,178.57
T20  Jason Dufner -12 $82,178.57
T20  Ben Griffin -12 $82,178.57
T20  Matti Schmid -12 $82,178.57
T20  Tyson Alexander -12 $82,178.57
T20  Tom Hoge -12 $82,178.57
T20  Tyler Duncan -12 $82,178.57
T27  Doug Ghim -11 $58,110
T27  Seonghyeon Kim -11 $58,110
T27  Chesson Hadley -11 $58,110
T30  Kramer Hickok -10 $46,744.29
T30  Eric Cole -10 $46,744.29
T30  Max McGreevy -10 $46,744.29
T30  Doc Redman -10 $46,744.29
T30  Hideki Matsuyama -10 $46,744.29
T30  Mackenzie Hughes -10 $46,744.29
T30  Stephan Jaeger -10 $46,744.29
T37  J.J. Spaun -9 $34,710
T37  Kevin Yu -9 $34,710
T37  Adam Long -9 $34,710
T37  Patrick Rodgers -9 $34,710
T37  Stewart Cink -9 $34,710
T37  Adam Svensson -9 $34,710
T43  Matt Wallace -8 $24,726
T43  Justin Suh -8 $24,726
T43  Matt Kuchar -8 $24,726
T43  Paul Haley II -8 $24,726
T43  David Lipsky -8 $24,726
T43  MJ Daffue -8 $24,726
T43  Justin Lower -8 $24,726
T50  Peter Kuest -7 $19,578
T50  Vincent Norrman -7 $19,578
T50  Trey Mullinax -7 $19,578
T53  Chad Ramey -6 $18,447
T53  Brandt Snedeker -6 $18,447
T53  Brice Garnett -6 $18,447
T53  Russell Knox -6 $18,447
T57  Nate Lashley -5 $17,706
T57  Brandon Wu -5 $17,706
T57  Ryan Gerard -5 $17,706
T57  Grayson Murray -5 $17,706
T57  Henrik Norlander -5 $17,706
T62  Frankie Capan III -4 $17,160
T62  James Hahn -4 $17,160
T64  Trevor Cone -3 $16,614
T64  Kevin Chappell -3 $16,614
T64  Ludvig Aberg -3 $16,614
T64  Kaito Onishi -3 $16,614
T64  Matthias Schwab -3 $16,614
69  Seung-Yul Noh -2 $16,146
70  C.T. Pan E $15,990
71  Ben Taylor 1 $15,834
T72  Augusto Núñez 7 $15,600
T72  Jim Herman 7 $15,600

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Winner’s Bag: Lee Hodges, 2023 3M Open

Check out the clubs that got the job done in Minnesota.

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A complete list of the golf equipment Lee Hodges used to win the PGA Tour’s 2023 3M Open:

DRIVER: Titleist TSR2 (8 degrees), with Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution 6 TX shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lee Hodges’ driver” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/q4yJBy”]

FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees), UST Mamiya LIN-Q Red M40X 8F5 X shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lee Hodges’ fairway wood” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/DK3PJn”]

HYBRID: Titleist TSR3 (21 degrees), with KBS Tour 95 prototype Hybrid X shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lee Hodges’ hybrid” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/9gERry”]

IRONS: Titleist T100 (4-6), 620 CB (7-9), KBS Tour C-Taper 130 X shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lee Hodges’ irons” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/k0WeNN”]

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46, 52 degrees), with KBS Tour C-Taper 130 X (56, 60 degrees), with KBS Tour Hi-Rev 2.0 Wedge 125 S shafts

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lee Hodges’ wedges” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/AWj9G1″]

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron GOLO 6 tour prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Lee Hodges’ golf ball” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/VmNE03″]

GRIPS: Golf Pride MCC

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Lee Hodges goes wire-to-wire at 3M Open to capture first PGA Tour title

It was a record-setting win for Hodges.

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Lee Hodges maintained all week he had nothing to lose at TPC Twin Cities.

Coming into the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, Hodges sat 74th in the FedEx Cup standings. With only two weeks left until the playoffs began, it was now or never for the 28-year-old to make a run.

He did just that in record fashion.

Hodges ran away with the 3M Open for his first PGA Tour title, leading wire-to-wire and finishing at 24-under 260, a new 3M Open tournament scoring record. During the week, he set the 36- and 54-hole scoring marks and will move to 33rd in the FedEx Cup standings, on the cusp on earning a spot at East Lake for the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

“Yeah, just icing on the cake, man,” Hodges said of setting the scoring record. “It was a dream week from start to finish. I couldn’t be happier. For whatever accolades came with it, I couldn’t be happier.

“Honestly, from Monday to Sunday I played really good golf, even in practice rounds. The pro-am, I made a bunch of birdies, and then I made a bunch of birdies in the tournament with not many bogeys, so it was just one of those weeks.”

On Sunday, Hodges shot 4-under 67. He ended up winning by seven. His lead was five heading into the final round. J.T. Poston tripled the closing par 5, dropping him into a tie for second at 17 under with Martin Laird and Kevin Streelman.

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Hodges is the first player to go wire-to-wire on Tour since Poston did last year at the John Deere Classic. The 67 he carded on Sunday was his worst round of the week, and he still increased his lead thanks to Poston’s misfortune on the final hole. The triple and T-2 finish cost Poston $260,000 compared to a solo second.

The shot of the day came on the par-5 12th, when Hodges hit his approach from 257 yards out to 3 feet for an eagle, his second of the day. On the par-5 sixth, he rolled in an 11-footer for his first eagle. He said both shots just seemed like things that happen when a player wins.

“I had an absolute — the exact same number both times and in the exact same wind,” Hodges said. “I just had to hold a little 3-wood. And it was 257 both times. I just had to get it up in the air and hold it, and I did it pretty well.”

The second eagle essentially put the tournament away, as if he hadn’t done it already. Hodges was 1 over in the five holes between eagles, and his lead went from seven strokes down to five in that span. However, he had a six-stroke lead with six holes to play and cruised to the clubhouse.

Alabama men’s golf coach Jay Seawell flew into the Twin Cities on Sunday to watch Hodges, who played for the Crimson Tide from 2016-18.

“I didn’t know anybody was flying in except for my agent,” Hodges said. “Everybody else was a surprise. I looked up on 18 when I was about to putt and saw him.”

Beau Hossler had the round of the day, tying the tournament scoring record with a 9-under 62 that included eight straight birdies from No. 9-16. He shot 29 on the back nine to finish at 13 under for the week.

“Honestly, kind of a weird, kind of a weird thing to shoot so low on Sunday and have absolutely no chance of winning the tournament,” Hossler joked. “A unique experience, but very thrilled to shoot that low.”

Defending champion Tony Finau shot 1-under 70 on Sunday and finished T-7.

However, the day belonged to Hodges, who on the 18th hole hit his drive right and had to lay up. He then hit a wedge to a slope behind the flag and nearly holed the approach for another eagle.

He settled for a tap-in par, and the celebration began.

“My caddie was telling me on 18, I honestly didn’t even think about it, we get to play Augusta next year,” Hodges said. “That’s something else. That was probably the coolest thing I heard all day.”

PGA Tour players react to Jay Monahan’s memo, updates on framework agreement

“I think we can all move on and try and make something good work.”

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BLAINE, Minn. — Commissioner Jay Monahan dropped a bombshell Wednesday night when he sent a memo to PGA Tour members giving numerous updates on the state of the Tour.

Monahan talked about the framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, golf ball rollback, the Tour’s 2024 schedule and much more. It was his first major move since returning from an undisclosed health scare earlier this month.

Players at TPC Twin Cities for the 3M Open had numerous things to say about the memo, including one golfer who was on the Player Advisory Council phone call with Monahan earlier that Wednesday.

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Here’s a look at what golfers think about Monahan’s memo.

2023 3M Open Sunday tee times, how to watch at TPC Twin Cities

Everything you need to know for the final round at TPC Twin Cities.

The first 54 holes of the 2023 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, are in the books, and one man is standing tall among the rest.

Lee Hodges, thanks to rounds of 63-64-66, holds a five-stroke lead over J.T. Poston (15 under). Entering the week, Hodges had missed the weekend in three of his four previous starts, the one outlier being a T-12 performance at the Genesis Scottish Open. He’s searching for his first PGA Tour win.

Poston, who claimed solo second with a birdie at the last Saturday, has been playing great golf. Before a T-41 outing at the Open, he tied for sixth at the John Deere Classic and Genesis Scottish Open.

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for Sunday’s final round of the 2023 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. All times Eastern.

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Sunday tee times

1st tee

Tee time Players
7:35 a.m. Augusto Nunez
7:40 a.m.
Ben Taylor, Jim Herman
7:49 a.m.
S.Y. Noh, C.T. Pan
7:58 a.m.
Nate Lashley, Kevin Chappell
8:07 a.m.
Trey Mullinax, Matthias Schwab
8:16 a.m.
Kaito Onishi, Justin Lower
8:25 a.m.
James Hahn, Russell Knox
8:34 a.m.
Ludvig Aberg, Doc Redman
8:43 a.m.
Beau Hossler, Vincent Norrman
8:52 a.m.
Brandon Wu, Frankie Capan III
9:01 a.m.
Brice Garnett, Paul Haley II
9:15 a.m.
Kramer Hickok, Adam Svensson
9:25 a.m.
Stephan Jaeger, Trevor Cone
9:35 a.m.
Hideki Matsuyama, Henrik Norlander
9:45 a.m.
Adam Long, Zac Blair
9:55 a.m.
Matt Wallace, Chad Ramey
10:05 a.m.
Ryan Gerard, Justin Suh
10:15 am.
MJ Daffue, Peter Kuest
10:25 a.m.
Max McGreevy, Grayson Murray
10:35 a.m.
Matt Kuchar, Mackenzie Hughes
10:50 a.m.
J.J Spaun, Jason Dufner
11 a.m.
Cam Davis, S.H. Kim
11:10 a.m.
Patrick Rodgers, Alex Noren
11:20 a.m.
Garrick Higgo, Tom Hoge
11:30 a.m.
Sam Stevens, Brandt Snedeker
11:40 a.m.
Matti Schmid, Emiliano Grillo
11:50 a.m.
Eric Cole, Callum Tarren
12 p.m.
Stewart Cink, Tyson Alexander
12:10 p.m.
Doug Ghim, Ben Griffin
12:25 p.m.
Aaron Rai, Dyaln Wu
12:35 p.m.
Chesson Hadley, David Lipsky
12:45 p.m.
Martin Laird, Kevin Yu
12:55 p.m.
Nick Hardy, Tyler Duncan
1:05 p.m.
Billy Horschel, Kevin Streelman
1:15 p.m.
Sam Ryder, Keith Mitchell
1:25 p.m.
Tony Finau, Aaron Baddeley
1:35 p.m.
Lee Hodges, J.T. Poston

How to watch

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. ESPN+ is the exclusive home for PGA Tour Live streaming. All times Eastern.

Sunday, July 30

TV

Golf Channel: 1-3 p.m.
CBS: 3-6 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 1-6 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Peacock: 1-3 p.m.

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Pair of 29s, Lee Hodges’ record-setting pace among 3M Open third-round takeaways

Lee Hodges is pulling a Brian Harman.

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BLAINE, Minn. — Lee Hodges is pulling a Brian Harman.

Last week, Harman led by five shots after 54 holes in his triumph at the British Open. This week, it’s a completely different set of circumstances, but Hodges’ lead is five with 18 holes to play.

The second-year Tour pro has played flawless golf and led after every round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. Coming into the week on the outside of the FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble, Hodges needed a big week to punch his ticket in the field at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. He’s doing just that.

Although it may be a big lead, a reminder: last year in Minnesota, Scott Piercy led by four after three rounds and was up by that many on the back nine and lost.

3M Open: Photos | Merchandise

Here’s everything you need to know from the third round of the 3M Open.

Kevin Streelman’s 3D experience, packed leaderboard among 3M Open second-round takeaways

There are plenty of golfers in contention heading to the weekend.

BLAINE, Minn. — Lee Hodges is taking care of business.

After 36 holes in the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, Hodges leads alone at 15-under 127, holding a four-shot lead over Tyler Duncan and earning himself the final tee time come Saturday. Hodges had the second-best round of his career Thursday with a 63, and he followed that up by shooting 7-under 64 on Friday to increase his lead. He doesn’t have a bogey through two rounds.

He had seven birdies in the second round, and he was just able to finish before the second round was suspended due to darkness. Hodges nearly made an eagle putt on the 18th after the horn sounded, but he tapped in for birdie to increase his lead.

All of the leaders were in the clubhouse when play concluded.

Hodges, in his second season on Tour, hasn’t won and hasn’t even had a runner-up finish. He’ll look to change that this weekend.

Meanwhile, Duncan posted a bogey-free 4-under 67 to move into solo second after the second round. He has not made a bogey through 36 holes. Sitting at 113th in the FedEx Cup standings coming into the week, he needed a big performance and is doing just that.

3M Open: Photos | Merchandise gallery

However, there’s a group of four at 10 under that are all PGA Tour winners on the heels of the two in front, including the defending champion.

Here are some takeaways from the second round of the 3M Open.

Justin Thomas, Cameron Young lead list of notables to miss cut at 3M Open

Some stars are heading home early.

BLAINE, Minn. — Coming into the 2023 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s 2022-23 regular season, there were plenty of golfers who needed to make a final push to get into the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Lee Hodges is in the lead at 15 under after Friday’s action, and he finished his second round with a birdie putt after the horn sounded to suspend play. It was suspended due to darkness with a few groups remaining who will finish the second round Saturday morning.

However, plenty of golfers needing a good week in the Twin Cities are packing their bags and heading home early.

Those who missed the cut, which came at 4-under 138, included players who were making a playoff push and others who were hoping to make their respective Ryder Cup teams.

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The cut won’t officially be made until Saturday morning when the second round concludes, but the number is set.

Here’s a look at nine golfers who missed the cut at the 3M Open.