3M Open Round 1 3-Ball Bets (Target Golfers Who Are Strong Off-The-Tee)

After a month-long hiatus, I am officially back and ready to dive into some bets.

Unfortunately, there isn't much going on in the world of sports this week. The good news is, we have a golf tournament to wager on.

In case you missed who I'm backing to win this week's 3M Open, I'm all over Brendan Steele at 35/1.

But now, let's talk some 3-ball bets. If you don't already know, a 3-ball bet is a wager on a golfer to post the lowest round score in the threesome that he's playing in. For example, if Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas are paired together, and you bet on Rory, he'd have to beat both Spieth and JT in that one specific round for the bet to cash.

Let's jump into my three 3-ball bets for the opening round of the 3M Open, set to take place at TPC Twin Cities.

3M Open Round 1 3-Ball Bets

• Joohyung Kim +150 vs. Sahith Theegala/Chesson Hadley
• Sungjae Im +150 vs. Hideki Matsuyama/Tom Hoge
• Cameron Champ +190 vs. Chez Reavie/Michael Thompson

Joohyung Kim +150 vs. Sahith Theegala/Chesson Hadley

You may not yet know the name Joohyung Kim, but it's one that you're going to want to take note of.

The 20-year old Korean was awarded special sponsor exemption for the rest of the PGA Tour season, after accumulating "as many or more points through the non-member FedExCup points list this season as the No. 150 on the 2020-21 FedEx Cup standings." In simple terms, a non-member who performs extremely well in PGA Tour events, gets a chance to earn a permanent card at the end of the season. He's the first golfer to earn this special exemption since Joaquin Niemann.

He already has seven professional wins on Asian tours, and he has impressive finishes this season that includes a 23rd place finish at the US Open and a third place finish at the Scottish Open. He's currently ranked No. 40 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

I'll take him to beat an overrated Sahith Theegala and a non-factor Chesson Hadley in the first round.

Sungjae Im +150 vs. Hideki Matsuyama/Tom Hoge

In what's arguably the best threesome of the first two rounds, I'll back another Korean in Sungjae Im. As I pointed out in my video above when picking Brendan Steele, strokes gained: off-the-tee is the number one stat you should look at this week.

Sungjae Im ranks 12th in that stat, which beats out both Matsuyama (66th) and Hoge (90th). Im also has a 15th place finish in his only time competing at TPC Twin Cities, so he knows how to play this course.

Cameron Champ +190 vs. Chez Reavie/Michael Thompson

The last two winners of the event are paired with the winner of last week's tournament. Cameron Champ cashed a 100/1 ticket for me last year, so I have to bet on him here purely out of respect.

Thompson is the odd man out amongst the three winners of the event in terms of strokes gained: off-the-tee, ranking only 150th when he won it in 2020. He's even worse in that stat this season, ranking 170th, so I'm taking him off my list.

Reavie won the Barracuda Championship last week, but I like to fade the previous week's winner whenever possible, and his 155th ranking in SG: OTT makes it even easier.

You can track Iain's bets on Betstamp here.