Day 4 at TPC Twin Cities
Keep that card
Keith Mitchell: OK, so Saturday's round was the one that included a PGA tour record-tying seven consecutive birdies to begin, but on Sunday the 29-year-old Mitchell fired a bogey-free 4-under 67 to claim fifth place. It broke a string of five missed cuts. Mitchell played the back nine in 14 under for the week.
Toss that card
Cameron Tringale: The leader by a shot to start Sunday, Tringale let his first PGA Tour win slip away by taking a bogey on No. 2 and giving back two birdies with a double bogey on No. 13. Tringale hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation but took an astounding 37 putts — 12 more than Saturday.
On the course with ...
Charl Schwartzel: Golf is a game of inches. Pesky, pesky inches. Schwartzel on Sunday nearly drove the green on No. 12, leaving his tee ball on the fringe and electing for a 90-foot putt. His first thwack at it rolled well past the cup, leaving an 11-foot comebacker that he hit 20 inches short and settled for par. Then on the par-3 No. 13, Schwartzel hit safely on to the center of the green and gave a good effort at a 50-footer for birdie. The 5-foot par putt, though, burned the edge of the cup and rolled 18 inches long. "Those are two holes that put me back just too far to catch," said Schwartzel, who finished tied for second, two shots behind winner Cameron Champ.
3M Open moment
A day after TPC Twin Cities' mammoth 18th hole, combined with a swirling wind, swallowed nearly 30 golf balls and forced at least two players to swing from a stance in the water, the 18th was tamed Sunday. It played under par for the day and that stroke average nearly went down even more, much to the delight of the large grandstand crowd. With the slightest of wind in his face, Louis Oosthuizen hit a "full blown lob wedge" from 95 yards away to just behind the pin and nearly skipped the ball right into the cup. "It was the time to be aggressive for that pin," he said. It was very close, a lot closer than what I thought."
Chip shots
- Oosthizen's runner-up finish was his fifth top-three result in his past seven starts on the PGA Tour.
- Spring Lake Park graduate Troy Merritt tied for 39th at 5-under, as did previous 3M Open winners Matthew Wolff and Michael Thompson.
- Phil Mickelson's PGA Championship win remains the only 54-hole lead or co-lead to win on the PGA Tour in the past 13 events.
Hole of the day
No. 11, 460-yard par-4: Would you call this hole perfect? Seventy-two players arrived at No. 11 in the final round, and as a collective they played the hole to exactly 4.0 shots.
Tweet of the day
"A successful Sunday at the 3M Open! I'm gonna have to start collecting PGA Tour stops like I do baseball stadiums. It's so much fun out here!" — @JanikFPU
Quote of the day
"This is one of those places that I feel like I was able to use and really fine tune some things to get ready for next week." — Patrick Reed, who is off to the Olympics in Japan.
