PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF. – Three weeks before a regular PGA Tour event returns to Minnesota, 3M Open executive director Hollis Cavner worked Pebble Beach's gorgeous grounds Tuesday.
He hobnobbed with pro golf's stars, their agents and caddies from the practice range to the players' family dining room, as well as with young amateurs who might be the next generation's famous names.
World 14th-ranked Tony Finau became the latest to commit to play July 4-7 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. By doing so, he joined a list that includes World No. 1 Brooks Koepka, five-time major winner Phil Mickelson, major champions Jason Day and Patrick Reed and ninth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau, among many others.
Finau has won once on the PGA Tour — the 2016 Puerto Rico Open — but has top-10 finishes in all four majors. Included is a tie for fifth at this year's Masters and a fifth outright at last year's U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
"Tony's a great get," Cavner said. "When you start talking top 15 in the world, that's a great get."
Cavner's Pro Links Sports company operates five PGA Tour events, three Champions tour events and, lesser known, two college events from which he has given Oklahoma State teammates Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff and just-turned-pro Collin Morikawa from Cal Berkeley exemptions to play in Blaine.
Hovland is the 2018 U.S. Amateur champion, which was played at Pebble Beach, and he parlayed that title into a spot in the 119th U.S. Open that starts Thursday. He and Wolff will turn pro together at next week's Travelers Championship. Morikawa did the same last week at the Canadian Open, where he finished tied for 14th.
Cavner also has former Illinois All-America Charlie Danielson — Osceola, Wisconsin's own, who qualified to play his second U.S. Open this week — on his radar for the 3M Open field.