3M Championship Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Justin Thomas had a fantastic reason for why he watches majors after missing the cut

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 06:36:42 +0000

Justin Thomas. Jared C Tilton

After a rough couple days on the golf course — heck, after a rough year on the golf course — many tour pros would like to get as far away from the sport as possible. But not Justin Thomas.

The two-time major champ missed the cut at the final major of 2023 last week, but apparently spent his weekend watching wall-to-wall coverage of the Open Championship on TV just like the rest of us at home. And for good reason.

In his press conference ahead of the 3M Open, Thomas, who shot 82-71 to miss the cut at Royal Liverpool by 11 shots, explained that he’s not only an avid fan. He also uses these opportunities to watch and learn. Here’s the exhange:

Q. You mentioned watching the Open Championship and we’ve seen you tweet and follow some of the other majors that you didn’t make it to the weekend. Why do you like to do that? It seems like it would be hard for you not being there, but you still wanted to watch. Why did you want to do that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I’m a golf fan, I am. Obviously it sucks this year, I’ve literally watched basically the four, all four majors, the winners play their entire final round. So that’s not what you want to be, you want to be the one that’s being watched.
I am. There’s a lot of people that just, if they miss the cut or if they’re not playing, they don’t want to watch, but I’m a golf fan. I felt like I learnt from watching Brooks at the PGA. I felt like his demeanour and how he went about everything, for me personally, I was like that’s how I want to be, how I want to act when I’m out there playing in majors.
I mean, Harm [Open Champion Brian Harman] yesterday or two days ago, it was just how he just picked his way around that golf course, just seeing how focused he was, and him and Big Country, his caddie, were kind of in their own little world under that umbrella. You know, as a fan I like to watch, but also if I can learn a thing or two, that’s great.

A lot of good stuff in there. You can’t blame Thomas’ struggles on a lack of effort. The guy has tried everything to turn things around, including that crazy diet. And here’s how it sounded coming from JT’s mouth:

JT on watching major weekends from home and how he's taken inspiration from Brooks Koepka. ? pic.twitter.com/mlr8IgVoiw

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) July 26, 2023

Thomas won his 15th PGA Tour title and second major at last year’s PGA Championship, but hasn’t won since. He finished 41-over par in 10 major championship rounds this year and his three top 10s this season currently have him at No. 75 in the FedEx Cup standings — or outside the top 70 who qualify.

He’s also in a very precarious position when it comes to making this year’s Ryder Cup team. For all of those reasons, Thomas added this week’s 3M Open and next week’s Wyndham Championship to his schedule hoping for a late-season push.

“This is a good chance for me to learn a little bit about myself and push myself and become better,” Thomas said. “I mean, this game, nothing’s given to you. I’ve had great chances to win the FedEx Cup the last five or six years and now I’m trying to make the Playoffs. That’s just the way that this sport is. And it can happen to anybody, so you’ve just got to go out and get it and that’s what I’m going to do these last two weeks.”

Hopefully for Thomas — and for U.S. captain Zach Johnson — that learning will come on the course over these two weekends.

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Tony Finau’s hot streak pushes him past impressive PGA Tour career earnings milestone

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 09:05:10 +0000

By Alex Myers
With two wins in a seven-day span, Tony Finau racked up nearly $3 million in prize money. It’s not quite winning the Lottery jackpot these days, but it’ll do. Especially considering that’s just a fraction of Finau’s career earnings.

In fact, Finau passed an impressive PGA Tour earnings milestone thanks to his wins at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic. Those first-place checks moved him over $30 million for his career.

After earning $1.512 million in Detroit, Finau is up to $30,927,102, which puts him No. 41 on the all-time list. Finau lept over Xander Schauffele (for now), Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy, Hunter Mahan, and Bill Haas with Sunday’s victory.

That figure, however, doesn’t include FedEx Cup bonuses. So Finau still trails Haas, who won the $10 million bonus back in 2011.

Tiger Woods is the PGA Tour’s all-time leading earner with $120,895,206. There’s Phil Mickelson in second at $94,955,060, and then No. 3 Jim Furyk at $71,507,269.

Finau earned his first PGA Tour cheque ($7,960 for a T-70) at the 2007 US Bank Championship in Milwaukee shortly after turning pro at 17. But he didn’t cash another PGA Tour cheque until becoming a full-time tour member for the 2014-2015 season.

With more than $5.5 million in earnings during the 2021-2022 campaign, this marks the third season Finau has gone over $5 million. But considering his red-hot form and the big-money playoff events coming up, he’s got his eyes on a much (much) higher number.

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This shot off the toe of his putter is yet another example of Bubba Watson’s creative genius

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 23:55:18 +0000

Michael Reaves

By Tod Leonard
Bubba Watson is like that kid in “The Sixth Sense.” He sees things that we don’t. He sees openings through trees that aren’t much wider than a sparrow to fly through. He sees lines off the tee that no one else (maybe other than that other wacky lefty, Phil Mickelson, or Bryson DeChambeau) would attempt. And his short-game imagination is, at times, something at which to marvel. It was on display again on Friday in the 3M Championship.

Watson hadn’t really done anything special at TPC Twin Cities. He was two under for the tournament and second round, battling more to make the cut than be in contention. At the par-5 12th, he pounded a 353-yard drive that flirted with the lake on the right side. Going for the green, his 225-yard second shot ended up in a really awkward downhill lie on the side of a bank above a bunker. TV didn’t do justice just how much Watson had to lean on his right side just to get his club on the ball.

Knowing a flop shot was impossible, Watson instead intentionally bumped the ball into a tongue coming down into the bunker. The grass was lush, so there was no guarantee he’d get a good kick. But it turned out fantastically, the ball taking a couple of bounces before coming up just short of the fringe. If it had reached the green, the shot likely would have sidled up close to the cup.

Bubba slapped his leg in disappointment because he actually thought he was going to pull it off.

No worries. The next shot was more imaginative and brilliant. After having to wait his turn after playing partner Dustin Johnson bladed a greenside bunker shot halfway to St. Paul for an eventual 6 on the hole, Watson pulled the putter out of his bag, though his ball sitting slightly down in the grass. Then Watson turned the putter over, lined the toe up with the ball, and stroked it. The roll was on line the whole way and dropped into the cup—a ho-hum 13-foot birdie.

The toe putt strikes again!

Smooth from @BubbaWatson. ? pic.twitter.com/bbfVujqRFN

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 23, 2021

It was all so good, considering: a) only somebody with a blade putter can even try to pull that off (mallets need not apply); and (b), even with a blade, how many at even the upper echelon would try that? But that’s why Watson is arguably the most entertaining player on tour.

And go ahead, be like Bubba. Try the putter toe shot in the next round. It’ll make you appreciate him all the more.

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Kenny Perry erases his doubts, wins 3M Championship, his 10th PGA Tour Champions victory

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 05 Aug 2018 22:33:12 +0000

Robert Laberge
Kenny Perry, shown here in a file photo, won the 3M Championship for a third time on Sunday. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

By John Strege
Tournaments that end on Sunday generally aren’t won on Saturday, as Kenny Perry demonstrated in the final round of the 3M Championship. Most of the five-stroke lead he began the day vanished early, requiring he work hard to close out his 10th PGA Tour Champions victory.

Nothing has been particularly easy for Perry this year, save, perhaps, for the 12-under par 60 he shot at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., on Saturday. He sweated out a three-under par 69 in the final round to win by three over Wes Short Jr., his third victory in the event.

“I hate being the guy being hunted,” he said. “I felt very tight the first nine holes. I was uneasy, just didn’t feel good out there. I kept thinking, ‘you blow a five-shot lead, they’ll be talking about you.’

“But I felt good coming in. I’ve only played eight events or so. My year’s been in disarray. I’m so sporadic. I can’t practice enough because I hurt with all this. I don’t have enough reps in me. I just physically cannot practice the way I used to where I can continue to hit the golf shots I’m trying to hit.”

Perry, 57, did not start his season until mid-April, the result of off-season shoulder surgery that contributed to a loss of confidence. This, in fact, was his 10th start of the season, and before Sunday’s victory, his best finish had been a tie for fifth.

“I’m just ecstatic to get back in the winner’s circle,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever get back in it, to tell you the truth. Confidence is so fleeting in the game of golf. It can come and then it can leave fast. I just didn’t have any. To shoot 60 yesterday was a breath of fresh air.”

The five-shot lead over Glen Day with which he began the round dwindled to won after the seventh hole, where Perry had made a second straight bogey. But he did not make another bogey and birdied four of his last 10 holes.

“I had a lot of pressure on me today,” he said. “I free-wheeled it yesterday. I was lucy-goosey, just cutting it loose and having the time of my life. And today I couldn’t hardly breathe, couldn’t hardly draw it back. I don’t know how I shot 69, I really don’t.”

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