BLAINE, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Defending champion Bruce Lietzke, who has won twice this year, heads the field for the $1.75 million 3M Championship, which begins Friday at the TPC of the Twin Cities.

The 51-year-old Dallas, Texas native posted a two-stroke victory over Doug Tewell here last year in just his third PGA Senior Tour event. He logged a winning score of 9-under par 207.

Lietzke has four wins in 25 career starts on the elder tour, including titles this year at the Audi Senior Classic and TD Waterhouse Championship. One of five players with a pair of victories in 2002, he ranks 11th on the money list with $956,204.

The other players with two wins -- leading money winner Hale Irwin, Bob Gilder, Tewell and Tom Kite -- also are entered this weekend.

Irwin, a two-time winner of this event, has not win since the Toshiba Senior Classic in early March, but has claimed $1,861,706 this year, giving him more than a $500,000-lead over Gilder.

Although he only has two victories, Irwin has had a remarkably consistent year with 15 top-10 finishes in 18 starts, including two losses in playoffs over the past three weeks.

He finished second to Hubert Green in the Lightpath Long Island Classic last week, increasing his lead over Kite to 625 points in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

Irwin won the 3M Championship in 1997 and 1999 and was a runner-up in 2000.

The TPC of the Twin Cities is a par-72 layout measuring 7,100 yards. First prize is $262,500.

The course played significantly harder last year than the year before with a scoring average of 73.198 -- nearly two strokes higher than the 2000 average of 71.160.