Minnesota Scene: 3M Open to be played July 23-26 in 2020

The second annual 3M Open will be played three weeks later than the inaugural one debuted this month, according to next season's expanded PGA Tour schedule released on Monday.

As expected, it will be played July 23-26 at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. That's one week after the British Open and one week before the Tokyo Olympics' golf competition.

It will be the tour's second-to-last weekly tour stop — two weeks before the Wyndham Championship — before August's FedExCup playoffs. It essentially swaps dates with this week's World Golf Championship in Memphis.

The inaugural 3M Open, won by 2019 NCAA champion Matthew Wolff, drew a July 4 weekend field that included world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, superstar Phil Mickelson, major championship winners Jason Day, Patrick Reed and others as well as world top-10 player Bryson DeChambeau.

Tournament executive director Hollis Cavner said he prefers the new later date, which the 3M Open will keep for the foreseeable future, even though it conflicts with the Olympics and coincides with the start of Vikings training camp. He will likely send a chartered jet to England to bring back British Open participants the Sunday night before his tournament.

JERRY ZGODA

The National Women's Hockey League announced its 2019-20 schedule on Monday, and the Minnesota Whitecaps will open defense of their league championship with a two-game series on Oct. 12-13 against the Metropolitan Riveters at TRIA Rink in St. Paul.

Minnesota, which won the Isobel Cup as an expansion team last season, closes the regular season with a home series against Connecticut on Feb. 29 and March 1. All of the Whitecaps' series will be played in a Saturday-Sunday format.

The Whitecaps also will play two exhibition games — against the Gophers at Ridder Arena on Sept. 22 and against Minnesota Duluth at AMSOIL Arena on Sept. 29.

The complete schedule is in Scoreboard.

RANDY JOHNSON

North Dakota State was tabbed as the Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason favorite in a poll of league coaches, media and sports information directors.

This year, NDSU received 32 of 40 first-place votes and 392 total points in the poll. South Dakota State, Illinois State and Indiana State also received first-place votes.

• The Minnesota Women's State Open will begin Tuesday at Southview Country Club in St. Paul. Among the entrants is Kathryn VanArragon, a 14-year-old from Blaine who won the MGA Women's State Amateur last week at Town & Country Club in St. Paul.