Tony Finau eager to defend 3M Open title; former U.S. Open champ Gary Woodland commits to play

Tony Finau has become a breakthrough winner on the PGA Tour these past three seasons, but until now he has never defended on the same course where he won the year before.

This week, he goes back to Detroit Golf Club as defending champion after he won the 3M Open in Blaine the week before last summer. In late July, he goes back to TPC Twin Cities to defend there after a surprise victory last year.

"It's the first time," he said. "The first two times I won, I didn't get a chance at either of those courses."

He will now get that chance in both Detroit and Minnesota.

After his 2016 Puerto Rico Open victory, Finau went five years and 142 tournaments before he won again. He didn't return as defending champion because he qualified for the tour's match-play event that same week in Texas.

When he won the postseason Northern Trust in 2021, the FedExCup playoff schedule didn't include a return to Liberty National in New Jersey the next year.

Now he has memories of winning by five shots over Cameron Young in Detroit's Rocket Mortgage Classic the week after he trailed by five shots with 11 holes remaining on a windy Sunday in Blaine. Finau beat Sung-jae Im and Emiliano Grillo by three shots after he got a lucky bounce off the grandstands at the watery par-3 17th hole.

Now he's going back to both courses.

"I'm looking forward to it," Finau said Monday in a video call with Twin Cities reporters. "Defending at the 3M, the last time you left it the year prior, you were the champion. That leaves a great vibe. So you just try to re-create the atmosphere earlier in the week. Hopefully, you can have the same success throughout the week."

3M Open champions Finau, Michael Thompson and Cameron Champ have committed to return for the July 27-30 tournament in Blaine. Like last year, it will be played the week after the British Open, but this time the 3M Open won't charter a jet to bring golfers committed to play in Minnesota the next week, because of its growing expense.

Big hitters Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, and Billy Horschel have committed to play the 3M Open, as have tour veterans Charley Hoffman, Brandt Snedeker and Stewart Cink.

Tour player Joel Dahmen has told 3M officials he will play, too. Dahmen and his caddie Geno Bonnalie were featured in the Netflix series "Full Swing," an inside look at PGA Tour players lives that made Dahmen something of a star.

North Oaks' Frankie Capan III — a former state amateur champion and qualifier for this month's U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club — is one of four young players who have accepted sponsor exemptions. He is currently playing on the Korn Ferry tour.

The others: Derek Hitchner won the Class 2A state championship at Blake by 11 strokes when he was a sophomore and is a former Pepperdine golfer who reached last summer's U.S. Amateur semifinals. Sam Bennett, a 23-year-old Texan, is that 2022 U.S. Amateur champion who was in Saturday's final pairing at the Masters in April. Brazilian Fred Biondi won the NCAA men's individual title and helped Florida win the team title in May.