With the seasons final major having wrapped up this past weekend, we head to the next most important stretch of the season as players try to secure their place in the FedEx Cup playoffs. We start this stretch off with the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. Will this event continue it's history as a birdie-fest, and will it keep its streak of unique winners alive?

Don't forget, when looking to build your lineups, make sure to take advantage of our PGA DFS Projections, PGA DFS Ownership, and PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer to get every advantage you can. 

Let’s dive in!

 

3M Open 2026: Daily Fantasy Golf Picks & Projections

The 3M Open joined the docket of PGA Tour events in 2019, taking over from the 3M Championship which was a PGA Tour Champions event from 1993 to 2018, with TPC Twin Cities being the home course since 2001. This event is unique in the fact that it has yet to have a repeat champion, with 6 different names taking home the title in it's short history. Being a newer event on tour, there is much less history here, but 3M has historically hosted solid events when they've been a sponsor.

 

TPC Twin Cities: Course Breakdown This Week

TPC Twin Cities shares most of the features we’re used to at other TPC venues with a ton of reachable par 5s, scoring holes disguised as par 4s, and stadium-style par 3s. We also feature a ton of water hazards throughout the course. Playing as a Par 71 at 7,431 yards on bentgrass greens and fairways, we will see one of the more scorable courses in recent memory. While water is in play on roughly 80% of holes, especially off the tee, we see larger than average fairways, and greens making it plenty easy to keep your ball dry and in scoring position.

Every single year, almost without fault, this event is won by keeping your tee shot in the fairway, having strong ball-striking and iron play, and putting well on these fast bent greens. As a result, we’re putting extra weight in the model this week on Good Drives Gained, SG: Approach, Birdie or Better Percentage, Bogey Avoidance, Bentgrass Putting, and SG:Around-the-Green. Players who are a plus in each of these categories give us a great chance at finding the winner in a projected birdie-fest. 

TPC Twin Cities is comprised of four par 3s playing between 175 and 230 yards, eleven par 4s playing between 380 and 502 yards, and three par 5s playing between 593 and 596 yards. Given the clustered hole yardages, we get clear baskets to focus on, especially given the par 5s have just 3 yards of difference from shortest to longest. Our key approach baskets fall into two distinct boxes as well, with 75-125 yards and 175-225 seeing the most strokes above tour average in each, with nearly 60% of all approach shots coming from this range. 

Scoring is going to be key at this event. The lowest winning score we’ve seen at this event was in 2020-2021 which came in at 15 under par, with the tournament record being held by 2023 winner Lee Hodges at 24 under par which Kurt Kitayama sniffed last year on his way to victory. Given the layout of the course, and likely mild weather, I’m projecting scoring to take precedent. When the tournament founder says “we want birdies and trainwrecks, we don’t want to be the hardest course on tour” you listen to them. Scoring and avoiding bogeys will be absolutely key to winning this event, and will be what we build our lineups around first and foremost. 

Course history takes some finesse here as well. Players tend to score similarly year over year and perform well here, or perform poorly here. For example, just a handful of players have made the cut in each of their starts at this event. That said, past performance doesn’t always mean you can be the winner here. Cameron Champ won in his first start, Johnny Vegas missed the cut in his debut then recorded a T2nd, followed by not playing here for two years before winning last season, and Lee Hodges is the opposite by missing the cut here twice after winning it all and setting the record. While we can’t ignore clear trends here, we’re not going to overweight this performance.

 

3M Open 2026 Field: Golf DFS

As expected coming off The Open, this is a weak field in-terms of high end talent. Scottie is here as he looks to try and find some form again heading into the end of season stretch, yet he is the only player inside the top 30 in the OWGR. Kurt Kitayama is back to defend his title, and 3 of the other 7 winners are in attendance this week, but this is a wide open event. Ryan Fox has withdrawn after claiming his first career Major at the Open, and only Scottie, Tom Kim, Gary Woodland, Ricky Castillo, Brandt Snedeker, and Stefano Mazzoli have won this season. Between the Open having just occurred, and the small purse at this venue, plus the weather the Midwest has been dealing with, I'm not going to pretend this field is anything other than what it is. This is an interesting field that should still be able to produce some drama, but it shouldn't surprise anyone to see some new names near the top.

 

This Week’s PGA DFS Optimizer & Lineup Generator

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PGA Best Bets & Predictions: 2026 3M Open (19-30 Overall, +7.00 Units)

  • Kurt Kitayama: Top 10 (+250)
  • Emiliano Grillo: Top 20 (+335) 
  • Genesis Scottish Open One and Done Picks: 
    • Kurt Kitayama
    • Emiliano Grillo
    • Jordan Smith
 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: Top Tier

Kurt Kitayama ($9,800 DraftKings/$11,600 FanDuel)

Kitayama is the defending champion, and since we predicted he would win it all last season, why not run it back? Kitayama has a very similar profile to what we like last season. Anything related to ball-striking and a full swing looks great, and he'll need the short game to cooperate. No one in this field has a complete profile besides Scottie, but I can't justify paying 5,000 more for him this week.

Keith Mitchell ($9,500 DraftKings/$10,900 FanDuel)

Mitchell is very intriguing this week. He's top 5 in the field off-the-tee, top 10 in ball-striking, and top 20 in scoring. On top of this, he ranks outside the top half of the field in a single stat, which is his play around-the-green which is much less likely to matter this week, especially for a player with his iron prowess. Mitchell has multiple top 5 finishes here, and while his recent form has not been inspriring, he's known to be an up-and-down player.

Jackson Koivun ($9,200 DraftKings/$11,100 FanDuel)

If I'm gonna take shots on rookies, it's going to be in events like this. Koivun debuted this season with a missed cut at the John Deere Classic, but followed that up with a T10 at this ISCO Championship and I'm going to believe he can keep that form going. He's top 5 in my model this week, and as I've previously stated, every profile has holes this week. Why not swing for the upside of a young star?

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: MID-TIER

Jackson Suber ($8,900 DraftKings/$10,500 FanDuel)

After his performance at the Open, is it really a surprise to see his name here? Suber led after Day 1, and while he couldn't maintain that momentum, he still had a week to remember. He's 22nd in the field off the tee, and top 10 in approach play and ball-striking, as well as the ever important par 5 scoring. He's need to avoid big numbers, and his play within 100 yards will need to come around, but he's overall a solid option and one of my model's favorites.

Gary Woodland ($8,800 DraftKings/$9,900 FanDuel)

This is an interesting event for Woodland. While the data tends to favor accuracy off the tee, it's no question that the winners here have been bombers of the ball as well. Woodland is a top 10 player off the tee in this field, and while his approach play has been fine, his ball-striking and scoring numbers overall have been strong. 

Jordan Smith ($8,300 DraftKings/$10,300 FanDuel)

Smith is not a household name, but he's playing strong enough that he may just have some extra buzz this week. He's finished T21 or better in 3 of his last 4 events, and is coming off a solid week at the Open where he recorded a top 20 finish. His short-game is weak, and that's not news to anyone who has watched him play, but I'm taking the same approach that I took with Kitayama last year. I'll trust a good ball-striker over an elite short-game player at this venue any day of the week.

 

 

GOLF DFS PICKS THIS WEEK: VALUE TIER

Michael Brennan ($7,800 DraftKings/$9,700 FanDuel)

I wrote about Brennan a lot earlier this year, but as he cooled off it was clear that the fade was necessary. I'm back on the train this week though. He's the best driver and a top 6 ball-striker in this field. He's still scoring at an elite rate, he just needs to avoid the big numbers, which I believe he can as his accuracy off the tee has been a plus asset of late. He's going to need the short-game to cooperate (noticing a trend with who I like this weeK?) but if it does, watch out.

Emiliano Grillo ($7,300 DraftKings/$8,700 FanDuel)

Let's be honest here, Grillo's profile is nothing to write home about overall. He's mostly hovering in the top 30 on the high end, and has some stats of concern as well. That's not why I'm in on him this week though. Remember how I said that players either always play well here or play very up and down? Well Grillo fits into the former. In 6 starts here, he's recorded 2 top 3 finishes, a top 10, and two top 25's. That's a sign that I should probably just plug him in this week if I've ever seen one. 

William Mouw ($7,500 DraftKings/$9,300 FanDuel)

Mouw's profile is weird, but I like it. He's a top ball-striker and approach player in this field (Top 12 in both), scores well, hits good drives, and has even better approach numbers in the buckets I'm looking at. Overall, I don't think he's likely to win, but he did Top 10 here last season, and is coming off a top 10 at the ISCO. That'll play.

 

 

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