3M Open Preview: Power Rankings & DFS Picks

By Austin Meo | July 2, 2019 7:28 pm ET

Power Rankings

5. Viktor Hovland

The 21 year old has been on an absolute tear the past few months after qualifying to compete in The Masters and US Open. The Oklahoma State University product by way of Oslo, Norway has made the cut in each of his last 5 starts, including 2 top-15s at both the US Open in mid-June and Rocket Mortgage Classic this past week. No individual statistics are available for Hovland, since the PGA Tour rookie doesn’t have enough starts under his belt just yet, but he has broken 70 in 6 of his last 12 competitive rounds, including a career low 64 in the final round of his most recent tournament. He’s a solid mid-level betting pick and a must-start for any DFS lineup.

4. Bryson DeChambeau

The Professor started off the 2018-19 PGA Tour season with a bang when he won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November to capture his 5th career win. He then rattled off 5 straight top-15 finishes from December to February before struggling at the WGC-Mexico Championship. But DeChambeau’s season has been a bit more rough post-Masters (where he finished T29)- he didn’t make a cut at any event the rest of April or May. But after a few solid finishes at the Memorial Tournament and US Open, he is coming off his best finish since the first tournament of 2019 with a T8 finish at The Travelers Championship- where he shot a season-low 64 on Saturday. A great DFS pick, Bryson ranks 3rd in birdie average, 20th in scoring average, and 15th in SG: total. His only weakness is around the greens, where he ranks 120th in SG. But he has been a very good all-around golfer in 2019, ranking 35th or better in all of these SG categories- off the tee, tee to green, approach the green, and putting.

3. Brooks Koepka

You would think that the world #1 (and 2nd best player in the FedEx Cup rankings) would be the favorite in any tournament they compete in- but Brooks is somewhat of an anomaly on Tour this season. In 3 major championships this year, he won the PGA Championship and finished 2nd at both The Masters and US Open. But in his last 7 non-major events he has either missed the cut or finished outside the top-50 FIVE times. And if you exclude the Zurich Classic which is a team event (held in late-April), than Brooks’ sole solid finish in a non-major since March was at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Still, it is hard NOT to bet against the man who ranks in the top-10 in birdie/eagle average, scoring average, greens in regulation, and many approach proximities. It’ll be interesting to see if Brooks brings his major-self or regular-season-self to TPC Twin Cities.

2. Jason Day

Day is 34th in the FedEx Cup standings despite ranking in the top-20 in the OWGR. Despite his struggles, he is coming off his best finish (T-8) since The Masters and has shot in the 60s 4 of his last 5 competitive rounds. He is also gaining some momentum off a sizzling 63 which he shot in the 2nd round of the Travelers Championship 2 weeks ago. Before that round, he hadn’t shot a sub-66 round of golf since the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am back in February, where he finished T4 (his best finish of 2019). Day is 10th in SG: off the tee and top-20 in SG: total, but at just 35th in putting he has not been his usual elite self with the flat stick. He has particularly struggled with his putter on the weekend, ranking outside the top-70 in putting average during rounds 3 and 4 of tournaments. Day ranks outside the top-150 in putts from 8′, 9′, 10′ and 15-20′- but if he can continue the momentum this week he is a lock to win the inaugural 3M Open.

*Favorite* Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama has made the cut in all 17 events he has played in this year, but he has fallen in the Official World Golf Rankings to 31st and sits outside the top-30 in the FedEx Cup standings. Despite 12 top-25s, he’s finished inside the top-5 just once, when he tied for 3rd at the Farmers Insurance Open back in January. Stats wise though, Matsuyama is playing elite golf in 2019, ranking in the top-10 in key stats like SG: approaching the green, SG: tee to green, and SG: total. He also ranks 10th in birdie average and is hitting over 69% of greens in regulation. And while he is averaging nearly 305 yards per drive, Hideki is only hitting 62% of fairways. Most importantly, he is struggling with the flat stick once again this season, he is outside the top-120 in SG: putting, ranks in the bottom third for total putting, and has a 3-putt avoidance rate of 3.82%- currently ranking him 178th on tour this season. This is a new course for everyone this year, so a clean slate on the greens and constant chances of birdies might give Hideki an edge as he looks for his first win of the season in 2019 (not to mention he is eyeing another Presidents Cup appearance for the 4th straight time).

Vegas Rankings

Brooks Koepka 7/1
Hideki Matsuyama 11/1
Jason Day 11/1
Bryson Dechambeau 14/1
Patrick Reed 25/1
Joaquin Niemann 33/1
Rory Sabbatini 33/1
Tony Finau 33/1
Viktor Hovland 35/1
Keegan Bradley 40/1
Kevin Na 40/1
Kevin Streelman 40/1
Phil Mickelson 40/1
Ryan Moore 40/1
Sungjae Im 40/1
Charles Howell III 50/1
Daniel Berger 50/1
Scott Piercy 50/1
Adam Hadwin 66/1
Kyle Stanley 66/1
Nate Lashley 66/1
Nick Watney 66/1
Brian Harman 75/1
J.J. Spaun 75/1
Jason Dufner 75/1
Jimmy Walker 75/1
Cameron Tringale 80/1
Charley Hoffman 80/1
Collin Morikawa 80/1
Danny Lee 80/1
Lucas Glover 80/1
Pat Perez 80/1
Peter Malnati 80/1
Bud Cauley 100/1
Cameron Champ 100/1
Chesson Hadley 100/1
Corey Conners 100/1
Denny Mccarthy 100/1
Keith Mitchell 100/1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 100/1
Luke List 100/1
Martin Laird 100/1
Sam Burns 100/1
Sepp Straka 100/1
Sung Kang 100/1
Talor Gooch 100/1
Brendan Steele 125/1
Dylan Frittelli 125/1
Jonas Blixt 125/1
Mackenzie Hughes 125/1
Matthew Wolff 125/1
Peter Uihlein 125/1
Si Woo Kim 125/1
Wyndham Clark 125/1
Austin Cook 150/1
Beau Hossler 150/1
Bill Haas 150/1
Hank Lebioda 150/1
Harris English 150/1
Josh Teater 150/1
Matt Jones 150/1
Max Homa 150/1
Michael Thompson 150/1
Nick Taylor 150/1
Roberto Diaz 150/1
Sam Ryder 150/1
Scott Stallings 150/1
Troy Merritt 150/1
Wes Roach 150/1
Adam Long 200/1
Adam Schenk 200/1
Alex Prugh 200/1
Andrew Landry 200/1
Anirban Lahiri 200/1
Brian Gay 200/1
Brice Garnett 200/1
Bronson Burgoon 200/1
Carlos Ortiz 200/1
David Hearn 200/1
Russell Henley 200/1
Ryan Blaum 200/1
Sebastian Munoz 200/1
Shawn Stefani 200/1
Stephan Jaeger 200/1
Trey Mullinax 200/1
Ben Crane 250/1
Ben Silverman 250/1
Brandon Harkins 250/1
Chris Stroud 250/1
Cody Gribble 250/1
Curtis Luck 250/1
Dominic Bozzelli 250/1
Joey Garber 250/1
Kramer Hickok 250/1
Ollie Schniederjans 250/1
Roberto Castro 250/1
Sangmoon Bae 250/1
Scott Brown 250/1
Ted Potter Jr. 250/1
Zack Sucher 250/1
Cameron Davis 300/1
Charlie Danielson 300/1
Chase Wright 300/1
Derek Fathauer 300/1
Fabian Gomez 300/1
Freddie Jacobson 300/1
J.J. Henry 300/1
Johnson Wagner 300/1
Martin Piller 300/1
Patton Kizzire 300/1
Richy Werenski 300/1
Robert Streb 300/1
Roger Sloan 300/1
Ryan Armour 300/1
Scott Langley 300/1
Seth Reeves 300/1
Tyler Duncan 300/1
Tyrone Van Aswegen 300/1
Brady Schnell 400/1
Colt Knost 400/1
Hunter Mahan 400/1
Kelly Kraft 400/1
Nicholas Lindheim 400/1
Sam Saunders 400/1
Smylie Kaufman 400/1
Tom Hoge 400/1
Adam Svensson 500/1
Alex Cejka 500/1
Alvaro Ortiz 500/1
Anders Albertson 500/1
Chad Collins 500/1
Chris Thompson 500/1
Jim Herman 500/1
John Chin 500/1
Julian Etulain 500/1
Justin Suh 500/1
Kyle Jones 500/1
Martin Trainer 500/1
Michael Kim 500/1
Morgan Hoffmann 500/1
Robert Garrigus 500/1
Rod Pampling 500/1
Satoshi Kodaira 500/1
Tim Herron 500/1
Tom Lehman 500/1
Tom Lovelady 500/1
Whee Kim 500/1
Kris Blanks 750/1
Will Claxton 750/1
Craig Brischke 1000/1
David Berganio Jr. 1000/1