aaron-rai-rocket-mortgage-2023-g.jpg
Getty Images

Don't look now, but the PGA Tour is just two events away from the FedEx Cup Playoffs with this week's 3M Open serving as the penultimate tournament of the regular season. With players jostling for position due to a stricter number of postseason participants, a bevy of competitors not typically seen at TPC Twin Cities are set to make an appearance.

The field is headlined by none other than two-time major champion Justin Thomas. Currently struggling through the worst season of his career, the 15-time PGA Tour winner finds himself just outside the coveted top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings and with work to do. The 30-year-old has collected only six top-20 finishes in 19 starts and has posted career-worst numbers in terms of total strokes gained, strokes gained approach and strokes gained putting.

Thomas will look to find something, and fast, as last year's champion, Tony Finau, aims to garner momentum in the land of the lakes for the second straight season. Twice a winner this season, Finau is well-positioned for a postseason run as he ranks 10th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Cameron Young looks to keep a good thing going after strong starts at the John Deere Classic and The Open, as are Sepp Straka and Emiliano Grillo. Hideki Matusyama and Sungjae Im are outside key cutoff points in the FedEx Cup standings and hope to make in roads in a field littered with young stars like Ludvig Aberg, Nicolai Hojgaard and Sam Bennett.

2023 3M Open schedule

Dates: July 27-30 | Location: TPC Twin Cities — Blaine, Minnesota
Par: 71 | Yardage: 7,431 | Purse: $7,800,000

2023 3M Open field, odds

Odds via Caesars Sportsbook

  • Sungjae Im (14-1)
  • Cameron Young (14-1): A switch of the golf ball at the John Deere Classic has seemingly rejuvenated Young's sophomore season. Since returning to the ball he used in his rookie campaign, Young has notched back-to-back top-10 finishes and posted a whopping +15.28 strokes gained tee to green at Royal Liverpool. The 26-year-old is still in search of his maiden victory, and TPC Twin Cities could very well serve as his canvas as strong tee-to-green acumen has ruled the week more often than not in this event's short history.
  • Tony Finau (16-1): The 3M Open kickstarted Finau's 2022 with the first of his back-to-back victories. He nearly made it three in a row when he finished fifth at the St. Jude Championship, but one year later Finau looks like a shell of his former self. Since notching win No. 6 at the Mexico Open, Finau has three missed cuts with zero top-20 finishes in seven tournaments. While he remains in a solid spot for the postseason, his spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup Team may be in jeopardy.
  • Hideki Matsuyama (16-1): Apart from his missed cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Matsuyama has experienced a quiet string of consistency. Since the Players Championship, the man from Japan has made 10 cuts with seven of those efforts coming in the form of a top-25 finish. The bad news is Matsuyama only has one top-10 finish in that span with it coming at TPC Sawgrass. He arrives off a nice T13 effort at The Open and finished T7 in his 3M Open debut in 2019.
  • Sepp Straka (25-1)
  • Emiliano Grillo (25-1)
  • Justin Thomas (25-1): He is the elephant in the room. It is not often a player of Thomas' caliber is adding events late in the season, but here we are. Since appearing to find something in his game at the Wells Fargo Championship, Thomas has played in seven tournaments with four missed cuts and only one finish inside the top 60. The short game that propped him up in the early stages of the season has abandoned him, and the rest of his game has fallen off a cliff. Could he randomly find something as he did at the Travelers Championship? Sure. Is it likely? No.
  • Ludvig Aberg (28-1): TPC Twin Cities has served as a breakthrough spot for young stars in the past, and Aberg is hoping history repeats itself. The young Swede arrives off the first missed cut of his PGA Tour career at the Scottish Open. Prior to experiencing the wrath of links golf, Aberg notched a T4 finish at the John Deere Classic and top-25 finishes at the Canadian Open and Travelers Championship. He is the best driver of the golf ball in this field, and it's not particularly close.
  • Gary Woodland (35-1)
  • Adam Hadwin (35-1)
  • Cam David (35-1)

Winner (40-1): The Englishman would love nothing more than to throw a wrinkle in the European Ryder Cup Team. The missed cut at the Scottish Open stings, but Rai was stellar before his trip to the U.K. A podium finisher at the Canadian Open, Rai went onto to notch finishes of T24 at the Travelers Championship and T9 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Over the last three months, he ranks first in driving accuracy, fifth in strokes gained tee to green and sixth in strokes gained approach.

Contender (55-1): Back-to-back missed cut at the Travelers and Rocket Mortgage may have thrown some off the scent, but Homeless Hubbs continues to play stellar golf. He has rebounded nicely in recent weeks with top-10 finishes at the John Deere Classic and the Barracuda Championship. Seventh in total strokes gained over the last three months, Hubbard finds himself trailing only Matsuyama in terms of approach during that same span. He finished T16 in his lone 3M Open start in 2021.

Sleeper (65-1): Ghim has finished inside the top 35 in his last six starts in the United States and now returns to a tournament where he has enjoyed some success. Finishing inside the top 20 in two of the last three years, Ghim arrives this time around ranking inside the top 35 of each tee-to-green metric over the last three months. Trouble lurks around every corner at TPC Twin Cities, and the Illinois native's ability to consistently split fairways (ninth in driving accuracy) will once again serve him well.

Who will win the 3M Open, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard and best bets, all from the model that's nailed 10 golf majors and is up over $9,700 since June 2020.