BLAINE – Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen overcame a double bogey and took over the lead at the 3M Open by posting a 5-under-par 66 Friday at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota.
Olesen entered the weekend at 14-under 128, one shot above Jake Knapp (65 Friday) and two ahead of Pierceson Coody (65) and Sam Stevens (68).
Olesen was 1 over par six holes into his round after hitting his tee shot out of bounds at the par-4 15th and hitting a poor shot off his drop. He proceeded to birdie the next two holes to erase that blemish, then add four birdies on the front nine.
“There was two great shots there,” Olesen said. “On (No. 16), I hit it to I think 3 or 4 feet, and also on 17 I hit it really close. Yeah, I mean, my iron play has been great. I didn’t — I felt pretty comfortable even though I made a double still, so that’s a good thing.”
Olesen, 35, is a veteran with eight wins on the DP World Tour but none in the United States. He started the week No. 129 in the FedEx Cup standings but said he’s simply taking every week as it comes.
“Every week is an opportunity to try and bounce back and do something special,” Olesen said.
Knapp is bogey-free through 36 holes as he seeks his second PGA Tour win. He opened his round with three straight birdies at Nos. 10-12.
“Feel like I’m kind of doing everything pretty good for the most part,” Knapp said. “I haven’t made too many putts, but yeah, I feel like it’s been, you know, kind of mistake-free for the most part. I haven’t really had to scramble too much.”
Tied for fifth at 11 under were Japan’s Takumi Kanaya (bogey-free 64), German Matti Schmid (68) and Chris Kirk (67).
A collection of notable names at 10 under included Wyndham Clark (65), Chris Gotterup (69), Akshay Bhatia (66) and Joel Dahmen (65). Alex Noren of Sweden joined them there by posting the round of the day, a 9-under 62 with an eagle-birdie-birdie-bogey finish.
“Today I understand why I love golf so much,” Noren quipped. “It’s a fantastic sport because it is tough and then when you get it right, it’s lovely.”
Canadian Adam Svensson broke the course record Thursday with an 11-under 60 but turned the wrong way Friday, posting a 4-over 75 to drop back to 7 under.
Max Homa (8 under following a 68), Rickie Fowler (7 under; 70) and Sam Burns (7 under; 64) made the cut, which landed at 5 under par as Friday’s round finished.
Those who missed the weekend included China’s Haotong Li (4 under), who was in the final Sunday pairing with Scottie Scheffler at last week’s Open Championship; Sahith Theegala (2 under); and Tony Finau (4 over), a former 3M Open champion who made back-to-back double bogeys en route to a 77 Friday.
–Field Level Media