3M Open should have 'seriously big names' despite competing with Olympics

Next month's 3M Open in Blaine received early commitments last week from popular Rickie Fowler and several major-championship winners, including 2017 Masters champ Sergio Garcia.

Tournament executive director Hollis Cavner said there's more coming, including what he called "some seriously big names" that will be confirmed one a week until the field is finalized the Friday before the July 22-25 event.

The British Open will be played the week before, but Cavner's company is organizing a chartered flight that will bring 80 players home from England to Minnesota after Sunday's final round.

Some of the world's best players are headed to the Tokyo Olympics the same week as the 3M Open, including U.S. Open champ Jon Rahm for Spain, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Japan's Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama. The U.S. is sending Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau.

That still leaves Cavner and his staff recruiting Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and any others seeking to earn FedEx Cup points in one of the final qualifying tournaments of the season.

"We feel really good where we're at with the field," Cavner said Monday at the tournament's annual media day at TPC Twin Cities.

Don't forget the PGA Championship winner, either — an old guy named Phil Mickelson.

Cavner said his crew has been in "constant talks" with Mickelson and his agent. Cavner expects Mickelson to wait until late if he does commit. Players have until 4 p.m. Central time the Friday before the tournament and can withdraw any time. This year, players who miss the British Open's 36-hole cut have until late Friday night to change their minds if they weren't intending to play the 3M Open.

"I can tell you right now, Phil is not going to tell us anything until right before the tournament," Cavner said. "That's just the way he is."

Cavner acknowledged the delayed 2020 Olympics presence "is tough on us," but said "the good news is not everyone can play in the Olympics."

Fowler and Garcia committed to make their 3M Open debuts. So, too, has Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker. Recent U.S. Open winner and 2010 British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen and several other major winners including 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink, who played in Blaine last year, have committed.

The tournament moves to earlier in July in 2023 and moves again later in the original seven-year deal that brought a PGA Tour event to Minnesota. Cavner called himself "thrilled" that fans will be fully back in attendance after COVID-19 kept them all away last summer. He said corporate sales are sold out and called ticket sales booming.

"If we don't get everybody we really want this year, I'm not worried because I know where we're headed," Cavner said. "I think the event continues to grow."

Defending 3M Open champion Michael Thompson will return of course, as will 2019 winner Matthew Wolff.

"They'll still have a strong field," said Thompson, the 2012 U.S. Open runner-up who now has won twice on the PGA Tour. "There's 100 guys any week that can win the golf tournament. We're going to get good golf either way."

Former Gophers golfer and Walker Cup player Angus Flanagan will receive one of four sponsor's exemptions targeted at young college or former college players. Former Oklahoma player Quade Cummins, Florida State's John Pak and South Carolina amateur Ryan Hall are the other three. Four more sponsor's exemptions remain.

"He has a really bright future," Cavner said about Flanagan, who received an exemption last summer, too. "This kid is going to be on tour. He's got that kind of game."

Morikawa and Wolff both received exemptions in 2019. Wolff beat out DeChambeau and Morikawa for the 3M Open title that summer.