Former Gophers golfer Ben Warian hopes to get a kick start at the 3M Open

Ben Warian was not away from Minnesota for long.

After graduating in May, the 22-year-old former Gophers golfer and Stillwater native is back at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine to compete at this weekend’s 3M Open.

“It’s so special to get to play a [PGA] Tour event and sleep in my own bed at the same time,” said Warian, who played high school golf at Hill-Murray.

As the 50th-ranked amateur in the world, Warian has used the summer — which included a victory at the Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, Pa. — to bridge college golf with his plans to go pro this fall. In the meantime, he has the opportunity to compete as an amateur at the 3M Open, thanks to a sponsor exemption and the Global Amateur Pathway program announced in June.

And Warian will likely be back in his home state Aug. 12-18 for the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine.

“To have the opportunity to play in the two biggest events we have here around the Twin Cities is so special,” Warian said.

The lefthander is among the five amateurs granted sponsor exemptions to compete in the 3M Open and is one of two former Gophers in the field, along with Erik van Rooyen, who graduated in 2013. As a senior with the Gophers, Warian finished 25th at the NCAA championship and set the program’s 36-hole and 54-hole scoring records.

“I got off to a little bit of a slower start, was probably more of a late bloomer, but just [put in] a lot of hard work and a lot of consistency over four years,” Warian said, with hopes of “continuing that into the pro ranks at the end of the summer.”

Tony Finau hopes he has more luck with birdies than he has had with the fish so far this week.

Back for his sixth appearance at the 3M Open, Finau, at 19th in the world, is the second-highest ranked golfer in the field. With his wife, Alayna, and their five children, Finau has turned his annual 3M trip into a chance to visit extended family, take out a pontoon and fish. His oldest son has outscored the six-time PGA Tour winner on the fishing front so far.

“We know pretty much every year this is probably going to be on the calendar,” Finau said. “Just one of those premier tournaments we enjoy as a family.”

But Finau did not always travel on tour with his entire family. The Netflix golf series “Full Swing” documented his victory at the 2022 3M Open — his first tour victory with his family present.

Between the documentary and repeat trips to the tournament every year since its inception in 2019, Finau has become a part of the 3M Open’s public profile. He spent Tuesday’s news conference readily using “we” to refer to the event and its field.

“Being a PGA Tour member for 10 years, I know how important every golf tournament is,” Finau, 34, said. “To help this tournament kind of grow in just a little way that I have, I think it’s been an incredible thing for me.”

Finau looks to bounce back after missing the cut at last week’s British Open coming off three straight top 10 tournament finishes. He tied for seventh in last year’s 3M Open.

Many players had their travel altered because of the global tech outage that disrupted flights worldwide.

Not Fargo’s Tom Hoge and 24 others traveling back from the British Open in Scotland, unless you consider jet lag.

He’s back playing the 3M Open again after he tied for 20th last July. He has three top 10 finishes in 2024 and tied for 72nd at last week’s British Open.

“I feel like I know my way around here a little bit,” said Hoge, who attended TCU and lives in Fort Worth, Texas. “It does feel a little bit like home. It’s nice coming back to a course I know.”

Staff writer Jerry Zgoda contributed to this report.