3M Open: Eagle on 18th hole puts Kohles in front
· Yahoo Sports
A 246-foot approach shot put Ben Kohles within five feet of the 18th hole and a chance to take a two-stroke lead on Thursday’s first day of the 3M Open in Blaine.
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He’d putt it in cleanly to take control of the field, closing 9-under par and three strokes ahead of world ranked No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
“It feels great when you can get a low one out, especially early in the tournament,” Kohles said.
He credits his comfortability with the course to the success. It’s Kohles’ third time making the Minnesota stop. Thursday was his lowest career round on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve played really well here the last few years,” Kohles said. “I really like this golf course.”
In second place, shooting 7-under par, were Emiliano Grillo and Jackson Koivun.
Scheffler finished Thursday 6-under par, in a five-way tie for third along with PGA veterans Lucas Glover and Gary Woodland, and the lesser-known Michael Brennan and Kevin Roy.
It’s Grillo’s sixth time at the 3M Open, and while he isn’t sure exactly why he keeps finding success in Minnesota, he’s not complaining. He tied for second in 2022 and third in 2020.
“Any day beating Scottie Scheffler is a good day, so I’ll take that,” Grillo said. “I got off to a good start, obviously.”
Grillo played in the morning. He made five birdies on the first nine, grabbing an early lead he held much of the day before Kohles’ afternoon start. He held that positioning until holes 16 and 17, when he made back-to-back bogeys and dropped into a tie. A birdie on the 18th put him back on top.
“Every time that you get to go to a golf course that you’ve done well at in the past, it kind of gives you a little bit more motivation and better hope,” Grillo said.
The Argentinian sits 109th in the FedEx Cup standings. Kohles’ is at 100th.
It’s Scheffler’s debut at the 3M Open. The reigning FedEx Cup winner had thousands of fans following him throughout his round.
“It was a really good crowd this morning, especially for an early tee time,” Scheffler said. “It’s always fun getting to play in front of so many people.”
Despite missing a short putt on the first hole, he found the putter rolling more true than it had last week at the British Open, where he finished tied for fourth. He knows that playing on a links course means the ball won’t always move the same, but he thinks his putting is trending in the right direction this week.
“Golf’s funny,” Scheffler said. “Some days you’re hitting your lines and the line seems to be tracking toward the hole, and other days it feels like you’re doing the same thing and it kind of goes around the hole, but today was a day in which I was able to hole some nice putts and that’s why I was able to make some birdies out there.”
The rest of the day’s leaders entered the week outside the PGA Tour’s elite. Glover is ranked 83rd, Roy 93rd and Brennan 105th.
The 3M Open’s timing — after the majors and directly after the British Open — makes it an important stop for players looking to improve their FedEx Cup position before the playoffs. It’s a tournament where those players have found success. The reigning champion, Kurt Kitayama, entered the 2025 tournament ranked 110th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Kitayama shot 3-under and was tied for 26th.
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