Birdies were easy to come by early in the first round of the 3M Open at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine on Thursday morning.
But the surprise of the early tee times came from world No. 4 Dustin Johnson.
Coming off consecutive rounds of 80 at the Memorial, Johnson looked to make his 3M Open debut something of a redemption week. It wasn’t. He shot a seven-over 78 and withdrew from play.
Johnson started on the back nine. He pulled off a fabulous flop shot setting up a birdie on No. 12 but the round went south four holes later. Johnson made bogey on the 16th, missing a 5-footer for par. He lost a ball in the water on the par-3 17th leading to a double bogey and then came disaster at the par-5 18th. After a 332-yard drive, Johnson stepped to the edge of the large pond guarding the signature green.
One, two, three swings to try and clear the water. One, two, three balls came up short and sank to the bottom.
“We only had like 199 to cover from where I was, 208 flag,” Johnson said. “It was a perfect 6-iron. Hit it right at it and never once did I think it was going to go in the water.”
Johnson carded a quadruple-bogey 9.
The birdies from other players were no surprise given this is a golf course known for bleeding red numbers on the leaderboard.
But Thursday morning, golf balls were also falling into the bottom of the various ponds around the property leading to some brow-raising scores on the other end of the spectrum
Tony Finau, Ryan Moore, Nick Watney and Xinjun Zhang hold the early wave lead in Round 1, starting their rounds after a 15-minute fog delay. Each turned in scores of 6-under 65 on a no-wind morning meant for scoring.
Finau, who held the 54-hole lead at the Memorial Tournament last weekend and wound up eighth after a Sunday 78, changed caddies before the 3M Open and got back to his smooth scoring ways. He rolled a 21-foot birdie putt on No. 3, his 12th hole of day, then stuck his tee shot to 7 feet on the par-3 fourth. After a two-putt birdie on No. 6, Finau gave that shot back with his lone blemish of the day. Undeterred, Finau rebounded to make birdie at No. 8.
Finau hit 17 greens in regulation, tying a career high.
“Really solid round,” Finau said. “Hit it nicely, gave myself a lot of looks and that’s what you have to do around this place.”
Moore, who missed the cut in his first three events back from the pandemic layoff and finished tied for 40th last week in Ohio, also made just one bogey on Thursday.
“Missed in the right spots,” Moore said. “It was a very stress-free round of golf, which I haven’t had a lot of lately. Almost disappointment to shoot 6 under.”
Zhang, a two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, made a 31-foot eagle putt on his third hole of the day, No. 12, to kick-start his round.
Sponsor invite Brendon de Jonge birdied eight of his first 12 holes and joins Kyle Stanley, Patrick Rodgers and Talor Gooch at 5 under.
Johnson’s playing partners Brooks Koepka (70) and Tommy Fleetwood (71) made up the morning’s marquee group and are well back of the lead.
Former Gophers golfer Erik van Rooyen, a popular pick to perform well here this week, also found water trouble. He put two balls into the drink off the tee on No. 14, leading to a to a quadruple-bogey 8 that quickly ruined a round of 3-over 74.
Minnesotans Tom Lehman (71) and Tim Herron (72) were paired with van Rooyen.
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Dustin Johnson withdraws after first-round 78 at 3M Open - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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