The Course Report
TPC Twin Cities
About TPC Twin Cities
The golfer’s this week have a mad challenge in front of them. They need to figure out how they are gonig to score -19 or better to win this tournament. Being back in the midwest it means that we are looking at another easy course for the 3M Open.
This is a TPC course, and the sight lines, greens, and fairways will be in immaculate condition. The scoring will be never ending, and the winner is going to earning quite the payday.
The course in itself is pretty unique. The fairways and greens are built on a sod farm, and the hazards you see on the course were manually placed. The point being is that this course sometimes feels more of a gimmick course than anything else. Bunkers are oddly placed, and there is so much water that it seems over abundant. The fairways give substantial landing areas so anyone often finding the water is more than likely to miss the cut thanks to a poor weekend.
In fact, the course is littered with agua. 12 holes have water in play, and this course does account for a ton of penalties for anyone having a wayward tee or approach shot. Still, as intimidating as this might be for a casual golfer, pro’s will go unfazed. Wolff won three years ago with a score of -21, and since then we haven’t seen a tournament that created scoring that was as low. Thus, you must look at the weather this weekend. Weather draws are going to be massive if there is any wind, and if you’re going to play showdowns, make sure you consider this as well. With all these water hazards, getting the right weather draw could be key in finding a successful weekend.
Other uniques aspects is how this course can easily modify its length by utlizing different tee boxes. The grounds crew is able to modify this each round to make any hole look different the next time a golfer sees it. While this is common at most courses and tournaments, the amount of water on the course can drastically change distances and clubs for golfer’s.
DFS players and bettors are going to have to navigate an uncomfortable field. There will be plenty of golfer’s here that most will not have a lot of information on. This plays into the hand of those who do their homework. For starters, in 2020 only 7 holes played over par. 2 of those holes were par 3’s and the rest were par 4’s. Eagles will be a factor here, and should be taken into account when building a player pool. Last year, 9 holes played over par and that was thanks to a windy weekend. Once again, the long par-3’s accounted for plenty of difficulty for the field.
Lastly, don’t narrow in on one stat for this course. Winners have come for a variety of reasons. In 2019, Wollf was dialed in on approach and gained nearly 3 strokes, in 2020 Thompson led the filed in putting, was in the top-5 in approach, but lost strokes off the tee. In 2021, Champs putter was so hot that it just didn’t matter where his ball landed on the green. Putting is unpredictable, but it might be wise to look at putters that can just dial it in over four rounds.
Architect: Arnold Palmer
Greens: Bentgrass
Green Size: 6,500 sq. ft.
Stimpmeter: 12+, Tour Average
Length: 7,431 Yards – Par 71
Water Hazards: 12 Holes – 27 Water Hazards
Bunkers/Waste Area: 74 Bunkers
Nuggets and Tidbits
-On average, most approach shots range from the 175-200 distance. The second would land between the 125-175 yard range.
-Fairways are wider here, and this has been seen in fairway hit percentage. Every year the tournament has been played at TPC Twin Cities, the number has been higher than the Tour average.
-I would not dismiss bombers this weekend. Closer is always better.
-Over the past three years, the average for GIR% has been up 5.4%. Even missing fairways indicates that hitting greens isn’t that difficult.
-Par-5’s are key as they have been the easiest on the course every single year the tournament has been played at TPC Twin Cities.
-Looking at the weather forecast, it seems you should be stacking that AM/PM wave when you consider the high gusts that are coming for the afternoon. Of course, this is weather and change is always on the horizon.
-This course could play so much more difficult if they would just grown out the rough. Do I anticipate this? No. Still, it is a shame that they don’t give these guys a little more challenge to hit these wide fairways.
Weather Forecast
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
The 26-year old earned his 3rd Tour victory, and did it in dramatic style.
A key par putt saved the day on 18 as Oosthuizen made a charge on Sunday. Yet, the heat, dizziness, and the overall health of Champ was the major issue. He overcame these obstacles in order to become tournament champion.
Thompson’s second win on the PGA Tour came with very little resistance as he birdied two holes of the final three holes of the tournament.
Sunday started with Thompson and Werenski tied for the lead, a lead that had been held since after round 2. Yet, it was Thompson who overcame the pressure Sunday to insure his Tour card for two more years.
Wolff nailed a 21-foot eagle putt to outlast DeChambeau and Morikawa for the victory. The 20-year old cemented his welcome to the PGA Tour.
This was the inaugural tournament at TPC Twin Cities. The intensity at the end of the tournament delivered plenty on tense moments.
He didn’t melt down this time, but he almost did. Speith won the Claret Jug by three shots after starting the round with 3 bogies on the first four holes.
On the back 9, Spieth figured things out as he had a birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie after hole 13. His win marked his 3rd major championship and became the youngest American to hoist the Claret Jug.
After seven career top-five finishes at major championships, Stenson broke through for his first major victory.
Stenson posted a 63 on Sunday, tying the major championship record for a low round. Stenson was spectacular on Sunday, and outlasted Phil Mickelson who just couldn’t keep up with the Sweedish pro.
It took a 3-man playoff, but Johnson beat Louis Ossthuizen and Marc Leishman by shooting a 15, 1 under in a four hole playoff.
Johnson was a surprise win as just the week before his prep came in Illinois at the John Deere Classic. This was Johnson’s second major win, and his first Claret Jug.
Entering with a six-stroke lead over the field, McIIroy went from dominant to just hanging on. Still, no golfer ever got withing two strokes the entire day, and he held his composure despite struggles off the tee and on the greens.
In winning, McIIroy became the seventh wire-to-wire winner in Open Championship history.
After winning the Scottish Open the week prior, Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes and became the Open Champion.
To this point, Phil had come close to winning, but had often doubted his abilites on links style courses.
Els began Sunday 6 shots back, but still clinched the vicotry after Adam Scott imploded.
Els’ 68 was a comeback of epic proportions when you consider the fact that Scott was still winning by 4 strokes on the 15th tee.