Beau Hossler's record-tying 62 not nearly enough at ultra-low 3M Open

Up early Sunday for a 7:43 a.m. tee time, Beau Hossler put his opening drive in the fairway, pitched to 17 feet and made the birdie.

Four hours later he tapped in for a final round 9-under-par 62 at the 3M Open, took one last look at the leaderboard and called it a day.

The tournament record-tying performance vaulted Hossler from a tie for 55th to start the day into a tie for fourth at 13 under with more than half the field still to finish.

A first career PGA Tour win would again have to wait.

"I have no shot of winning, I promise you that," the 28-year-old said a short time later, about 35 minutes before Lee Hodges teed off in his final round at 20 under. "Usually, you shoot that number on Sunday and you have a chance to win."

"It's a unique experience to shoot 9 under and I'll probably finish like 15th."

Close. Hossler wound up in a seven-way tie for 13th, 11 strokes back of Hodges.

Hossler's round, his lowest score in 534 career rounds on Tour, included eight birdies in a row on Nos. 9-16, one off the PGA Tour record.

It was a microcosm of the day; the average score Sunday was 68.822, more than two strokes under par.

"The back nine of gettable, you just have to keep the ball in play," Hossler said. "Credit to the greens staff, these greens have been like pool tables all week."

The only blemish on Hossler's card was a bogey on the second hole. It's a monster at 480 yards that players tee off over a road, toward a large pond guarding the fairway and this week into the wind all four days.

"If you gave me 100 balls to hit the fairway on No. 2 I'd probably hit the fairway six times," Hossler said. "I'm just really uncomfortable on that tee."

As for the other 17 holes, Hossler spent Sunday morning relaxed.

He played holes 17-18 needing just one more birdie to set the 3M Open record. He parred both, including a missile hybrid shot over the water on 18 that landed in the thick rough behind the green.

"Just nuked it," Hossler said.

He will head to the season-ending Wyndham Championship this week and for the moment has accumulated enough points to make the first FedEx Cup playoffs event. Another performance like Sunday's in either of those tournaments would vault Hossler into the to 50 and a spot in the second week of the playoffs.

"I feel like I've been playing solid golf, I just haven't gotten anything out of it," Hossler said. "Just trying to keep my head down and in these ideal scoring conditions, take advantage."

Cam Davis shot a combined 4 over on holes 9-11 on Saturday but shot 10 under in the last 25 holes of the tournament. That rebound helped him move up 11 spots to reach No. 69 in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the season finale, with the top 70 moving on.

"It's nice to see some putts going in, nice to see a lot of greens in reg, a lot of chances to make birdies at the moment with the way I'm playing," Davis said. "It's going to be different grass, different weather, all that sort of stuff next week. We'll just have to adjust."

Fargo's Tom Hoge shot 4-under 67 on Sunday and finished at 12 under for the tournament, tied for 20th. He had an 86-foot putt for eagle on the last hole that skimmed the edge of the cup.

"Had a lot of practice on those long ones this week, unfortunately," the former two-time Minnesota State Amateur champ said. "That one had about 15 feet of break, just had to dial it in and let it roll."

Stillwater's Frankie Capan III (71) finished at 4 under, tied for 62nd and collected his first PGA Tour paycheck of $17,160.

• Tournament officials said the dates for the 2024 3M Open will be July 22-28, again the week after the British Open.

• Balls in the water on the 600-yard No. 18 for the week: 79.