3M Championship

When: Practice rounds and pro-ams Monday-Thursday; 54-hole tournament Friday-Sunday.

Where: TPC Twin Cities in Blaine (par 72).

Tickets: Free general admission all week for the 10th consecutive year. The expo tent (Friday-Sunday) located behind No. 18 is also free.

Parking/shuttle service: Free from the Anoka County Airport.

Purse: $1.75 million; $262,500 to the winner.

TV: Golf Channel (8-10 p.m. Friday, tape-delayed; 3-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday).

Tournament 54-hole record: 191 (25 under) by David Frost in 2010.

Tournament 18-hole record: 60 by Paul Goydos in the second round in 2017.

Last year: After 19 years without a playoff, the 3M Championship needed overtime for the second year in a row. Following a weather delay, Paul Goydos (20 under par) defeated Gene Sauers on the first playoff hole with a birdie for his fifth victory on the 50-and-over tour. Goydos ran his streak to four consecutive years with a win. It was another birdiefest in Blaine; the field finished with 1,105 birdies, the second most in PGA Tour Champions history. The scoring average of 69.278 was the lowest in the event's history. Sixty-seven of 77 players finished under par.

Tour update: Twelve different players have won the 15 full-field events on the PGA Tour Champions this season. Of those dozen, only four are in this week's field. Seven events remain before the third installment of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.

Wide-open possibilities: For the ninth time in 10 years the 3M Championship falls the week after a major. Several noted PGA Tour Champions players atop the Schwab Cup money list — including Bernhard Langer, Miguel Angel Jimenez and David Toms — are taking this week off. That opens the door for players to make a run up the board in the season-long race.

Players to watch: Kirk Triplett, who birdied five of the first 10 holes and shared the lead on three occasions Sunday at the Senior British Open before finishing tied for third, is making the trip back over the pond on a roll. Tom Lehman and Tom Pernice Jr. were the only two Americans to play all four rounds under par at St. Andrews, and they tied for sixth. Two-time 3M Championship winner Kenny Perry, Minnesota natives Lehman, John Harris and Lee Janzen, long-hitting John Daly and two-time major champion Mark O'Meara will draw crowds in Blaine. Among the players making their 3M Championship debut are Golf Channel analyst Charlie Rymer and noted teaching pro Dave Stockton Jr., son of the 1994 winner.

Catch the legends: This year's Greats of Golf event — an annual 18-hole exhibition — kicks off Saturday afternoon. Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Lee Trevino are the headliners, and three-time 3M winner Hale Irwin is part of the festivities. Ten-time LPGA major winner Annika Sorenstam also returns after missing last summer to captain the European team in the Solheim Cup.

Saying goodbye: This is the 26th and final edition of the tournament, which began as the Burnet Senior Classic and was played at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids until 2001. There are eight former winners in this year's field (Perry, Pernice, Goydos, Joe Durant, Jay Haas, David Frost, Tom Kite and Leonard Thompson), and this is the last chance to see tournament golf for free in Minnesota. Next year's PGA Tour 3M Open, held July 4th week at TPC Twin Cities, will feature daily tickets likely in the $30-$60 range (though kids under 17 will be admitted with adults).

BRIAN STENSAAS