PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 3M Open

We do a lot of DFS site specific coverage here at FanSided Fantasy, so in an effort to bring in new golf fans, and look at Fantasy Golf as a whole, I am excited to bring you my PGA Power Rankings for this weeks inaugural 3M Open, taking place at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.

This PGA Power Rankings article will cover the top 20 golfers for this event, and with each golfer will come a short blurb with some justification to their respective rankings. Before we do that, let’s touch briefly on the history of the this event.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 3M Open – Course and History

Similar to last week, we have another brand new event this week, as the PGA Tour heads from Detroit to my beautiful home state of Minnesota for the inaugural 3M Open. TPC Twin Cities in the city of Blaine just north of Minneapolis will be the host, and the course is set to play at a length of just over 7,450 yards. Par is set at 71, and just like we saw at Detroit Golf Club, this should be a birdie fest with the winner projected to shoot between 20-25 under par once again.

From what I have uncovered at this point, long hitters should have an advantage here if they can keep it in the fairways, as there are four driveable par fours for the bombers. A hot putter will likely get you a long ways this week as well.

We do not have the greatest field, but nonetheless I am excited to plod around the course on Thursday and Friday, and hope to meet up with some of the wonderful PGA DFS personalities we have living here. If you read this and want to say hello, find me on the Twitter machine and shoot me a message.

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau highlight the field, and Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, and Phil Mickelson are among the top names in golf that will join them. I feel like those that played the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week have a slight advantage here over those that didn’t, as the courses could play very similarly.  Without further ado, lets check out this weeks PGA Power Rankings.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 3M Open

***The following golfers are my top 20 overall in this weeks field. Each golfer will be followed by their official golf world ranking (OWGR) in parenthesis. All rankings are prior to the finish of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.***

20. Scott Piercy – (59)

I sort of see Piercy here in the same mold as I did Charles Howell III last week. Elite ball striker having a solid 2019, who has been quiet as of late, but really has the ability to pop at an easier than average golf course.

Piercy ran pretty pure for two tournaments before the PGA Championship. It started with a T-3 at the RBC Heritage, then after a couple of weeks off, he followed it with a T-2 at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He grabbed another top-20 with a T-19 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, back in late May, and that is when the slight funk began.

Piercy missed his first cut since the Honda Classic at the RBC Canadian Open, and in his last action, a poor round of 77 on Sunday at Pebble Beach led to a T-52 finish at the U.S. Open. With the strength of this field, this feels like a top-20 finish at worst.

19. Brian Harman – (91)

I put some faith in Harman last week for DFS, and by one stroke, he fell victim to the cut line moving to -5. He shot rounds of 70 on both Thursday and Friday, and snapped his consecutive cuts made streak at four.

He was coming off a T-8 at the Travelers Championship, and really looked like he was in a favorable spot last week, but he just could not keep up with the birdie fest. I think he will be eager to start a new streak this week, and he should at least bounce back enough here to make the weekend.

18. Collin Morikawa – (623)

Morikawa will return to action this week after a week off, and is still is yet to miss a cut as a professional. He burst on the scene a little earlier than the Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff’s of the world, as he was able to notch a T-14 in his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open, and earn a spot in the U.S. Open the following week.

The 22-year-old held his own his first career major championship, navigating his way to a very respectable T-35 finish against the best players in the world. He T-36 the following week at the Travelers Championships, and an easy course coupled with a weak field could be a nice confidence booster for some of these new faces on tour like Morikawa this week.

17. Adam Hadwin – (74)

Hadwin had a week to regroup after missing his first cut since late March at the Valspar Championship, as he failed to make the weekend two weeks ago at the Travelers Championship, snapping a streak of five straight. With a handful of mediocre finishes in between including a T-29 at the PGA Championship, Hadwin looked to be trending the right way.

After a poor weekend which led to a T-52 finish at the Memorial, Hadwin came to play in his home country of Canada, as he grabbed a solo sixth place finish. It was just his second top-ten finish of 2019, but I think he will bounce back off his missed cut here in a home-like environment in Minnesota.

16. Keith Mitchell – (62)

We have all bentgrass here in Minnesota on our golf courses here for the most part. This bodes well for Poa hater Keith Mitchell. He did not play last week at Detroit, or the week prior at the Travelers, and although he is another golfer that has sort of struggled as of late, his game should fit very well here at TPC Twin Cities.

Mitchell can hit the long ball off the tee as good as any, and he should have a significant advantage on those short par fours and long par fives if he can hit them straight. However, it has been a downhill slope since his T-8 at the Wells Fargo Championship. Mitchell failed to make the weekend at both major championships, and his best finish in his last four events was a T-48 at the Memorial Tournament.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 3M Open

15. Kevin Streelman – (87)

Everything was going smoothly for Streelman at Detroit Golf Club until pretty much the back-nine on Sunday at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic last week. He was 12-under par heading into Sunday, and at the very least it looked like yet another top-20 for Streelman as he continues his stretch of solid golf.

However, he was off a bit as he was trying to close it out, and a double-bogey on 18 led to a 73 on the day, and a T-35 finish. Streelman has now made seven straight cuts, and has notched three top-tens in that span.

14. Kevin Na – (33)

Na got off to a slow start in 2019, and it was at the RBC Heritage where he cracked the top-ten for the first time this year with his T-10 finish. He has either been on or off it seems, playing well at easier courses, and struggling with others. He missed cuts at the PGA Championship and at the U.S. Open, but was able to put it all together in between at the Charles Schwab Challenge, where he held off Tony Finau by four strokes for his second career PGA Tour victory.

After he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, the 35-year-old Na went overseas where he participated in the Korean Open on the Asian Tour. This is really the only non PGA or WGC event that Na plays yearly, other than the CIMB Classic which is technically both an Asian and PGA Tour stop. He notched a solo sixth this year in Korea, and T-5 last year.

13. Phil Mickelson – (28)

Mickelson is ice-cold on the golf course, but red-hot on Twitter. Phireside with Phil was phenomenal this week as he had his mother on as his first guest, and she told a fantastic Thanksgiving story from when Phil was a teenager. Mickelson of course ended the two-minute clip with talk about hitting bombs and showing off the calves, and he seems to be well on his way to a career in comedy in life after golf if he so desires.

When I thought about it at first look, I wanted to keep Mickelson completely out of the rankings. His recent form has been so off, I just did not think he would crack the top-20 this week. However, if you look at who we have talked to up to this point, really none of them have been playing great as of late besides maybe Streelman, and it turned out Mickelson was plenty good for the number 13 spot this week. My gut is telling me Phil will like it here in Minnesota, and he could very well dominate this course if he comes to play.

12. Sungjae Im – (66)

Much like Streelman, Im was looking pretty good going into Sunday last week in Detroit. He was 13-under par and right in the mix, but could not break even par on the final day, and had to settle for a second straight T-21 finish.

Im has now made four straight cuts, and recently had that solo seventh place finish at the RBC Canadian Open as well. The 21-year-old is hot right now, and there is little reason to not think he stays that way this week at TPC Twin Cities.

11. Viktor Hovland – (340)

So far in this weeks PGA Power Rankings, it seems as though the previous players that teed it up at Detroit Golf Club last week for the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic got off to a good start, but slipped a bit down the stretch. Well the exact opposite can be said about Hovland, as he was on fire on Sunday, shooting a 64, and climbing up the leaderboard to 15-under par, and a T-13 finish.

Hovland also T-12 at the U.S. Open in his last event as and amateur, so he has two top-15 finshes now in his last three events. This week, the 3M Open will be Hovland’s third event as a pro, and like Morikawa before him, he is also yet to miss a cut. Of all of the players in the field this week, I am really geared up to see this kid play in person this week.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 3M Open

10. Tony Finau – (16)

I wouldn’t argue with you if you said you felt Finau did not deserve to be in the top ten this week. Although he has not a lot of big finishes in 2019, he went ten straight events making the cut at one point, that ended abruptly after his solo second place finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Just went it looked like he was turning a corner, things went south for Finau in a hurry.

Finau is officially in a funk, but he still sits at number 16 in the OWGR, making him the third highest ranked golfer in the world in this field. He has missed three straight cuts now since his streak was snapped, but he should be able to turn it around this week on a bombers course. I smell some eagles this week on these three short par-fours, and if Finau can keep it in the fairway and sink some putts, he could very well win.

9. Rory Sabbatini – (111)

Sabbatini is on an incredible run just seemed so unlikely at this point in his career, and I think that might be my favorite thing about professional golf. A handful of golfers are very competitive through their 40’s and some play on tour for 30 plus years.

At one point in his career, Sabbatini was ranked as high as 8th in world, and he started 2019 ranked 200th. He has fought his way up to 111 before this week, and after staying hot in Detroit, he could very well find himself back in the top 100 this week.

The 43-year-old has not missed a cut since the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and after a T-43 at the U.S. Open, he returned to action last week for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and continued his solid play. Nobody was going to catch Nate Lashley after he went 63,67,63 to start the tournament, but Sabbatini was right as close as any, shooting 18-under par for the event, and finishing T-3. It was his third finish of T-6 or better in his last five events.

8. Charles Howell III – (55)

I took a shot on Howell and put him in the number 20 spot last week, despite the fact that he wasn’t playing very well as of late. It was looking really good until Sunday, as that seems to be the case with the majority of those in the PGA Power Rankings this week. He had missed the cut in three out of five events leading up to the U.S. Open where he T-52, and he also withdrew after a first round 72 at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

However, he opened things up at Detroit Golf Club with a round of 65, but a 1-under 71 in a birdie fest on Saturday pushed him down a bit, and an even worse round of 74 on Sunday dropped him all the way down to a T-35 finish. In a slightly weaker field this week, I still feel Howell is trending the right way, and should have a better finish this week what could be another easy golf course.

7. Joaquin Niemann – (97)

Niemann is playing really well as of late, as he has made five straight cuts now, and followed up his T-5 two weeks ago at the Travelers Championship with another T-5 at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic. Back-to-back top fives at any level is pretty impressive at any level, and it is safe to say this 21-year-old is dialed-in right now. Niemann shot all four rounds in the 60’s last week at Detroit Golf Club, highlighted by a second round 66. He tied with six other golfers at 17-under par.

6. Keegan Bradley – (29)

There is no way of knowing exactly when Keegan will go #FullKeegan, but I waited for it all weekend at the Travelers Championship a couple of weeks ago, and Bradley was actually able to hold it together for all four rounds. Bradley went 65,66,69,67 for the tournament, but he and Zack Sucher came up four strokes short of Chez Reavie and tied for second.

Bradley is 100% hit or miss in every event he tees it up at, so a ranking this high from me says quite a bit about how I feel about this field as a whole. Consistency goes a long way in these rankings if you haven’t noticed, and while Bradley is far from that, coming in off how he played in his last outing gives him a big boost this week.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 3M Open

5. Jason Day – (18)

We know Day has dealt with some back problems this year, but the former #1 golfer in the world as been playing pretty well his last couple times out, and he looks very close last time out at the Travelers Championship. A second round 63 made up for an opening round 70, and Day shot 68,69 on the weekend to finish T-8.

Prior to that top-10, Day finished T-21 at the U.S. Open. Day is also long off the tee, and can be dangerous with a hot putter. If he keeps it straight this week, I like his chances here at TPC Twin Cities.

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4. Patrick Reed – (25)

Not only do we have a weak field this week, I just noticed I have three golfers I do not necessarily care for in my top-15, which was kind of struggle for me as you can imagine. Reed is probably the one I care for the least, but after finally cracking the top-five for the first time in 2019 last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, I sense a little run coming here.

Reed has only missed two cuts this year, but his best finish prior to last week was a pair of T-13’s back in January. However, TPC Twin Cities could be yet another easy track for these extremely skilled players. Reed putted well last week, and with similar surfaces here in Minnesota, he should be right in the mix once again.

3. Hideki Matsuyama – (31)

It was another week that looked promising for Matsuyama as he seems to be closer to a win than most. Nobody was catching Lashley though after his second 63 of the week on Saturday, and it seems that a few players may have been just not been all in with no shot to win at that point.

Now this is not true for most, and Matsuyama never gave up. Coveted things like well money of course, and a couple of spots in the Open Championship were up for grabs as well for others.

Matsuyama did have a few blow up holes it seemed early, and had to fight to back for another great finish. With his T-13 last week, he now has five straight finishes of T-23 or better. He looks to be a fixture in the PGA Power Rankings for weeks to come.

2. Bryson DeChambeau – (8)

The human computer is coming to Minnesota, and the software seems to back up and running after a virus or something must have gotten the best of his system. DeChambeau was solid to start 2019 as he picked up a win on the European Tour at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. However, after a T-15 at the Genesis Open in his return to the U.S. the downward spiral began.

DeChambeau was consistent making cuts through five events up until the Masters where he T-29, but then he completely malfunctioned, and missed three cuts in a row. All of the kinks seem to be worked out now though, as he followed a T-22 at the Memorial with a T-35 at the U.S. Open, and finally cracked the top-ten again his last time out with a T-8 at the Travelers Championship.

1. Brooks Koepka – (1)

How long is this going to last? Seriously are Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka just going to take turns missing cuts at events they don’t care to be at? Look I am totally joking here. There may be some merit to thinking the effort level and atmosphere at the Rocket Mortgage Classic is a little different from a major championship. However, this non-major funk that these guys are in is not likely to last.

Koepka didn’t even miss a cut, so I was exaggerating even a bit on my joke. We are aware of the success in major tournaments, but in his last two non-majors, Brooks barely made it to the weekend, and T-50 at the RBC Canadian Open, and T-57 in his last action at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago. If he is on he is the best in the world and he will win. I think it is really that simple this week.

Thanks for stopping by FanSided Fantasy (Formerly FantasyCPR) and checking out my PGA Power Rankings, and our ever-expanding fantasy golf coverage. Be sure to keep an eye out for my FanDuel article coming soon. All information from this article is derived from OWGR, (cited previously) Data Golf, and Smart Golf Bets. Much thanks as always to these free sources of information.