BLAINE, Minn. — As Scottie Scheffler teed off on Tuesday on the 14th hole at TPC Twin Cities, Hollis Cavner, the 3M Open’s executive director, gleefully watched from a nearby golf cart.
Plenty others looked on from outside the ropes.
With the World No. 1 in the field this week, Cavner says tournament ticket sales have already increased 25-30 percent over last year, and that’s not even including the tickets they expect to sell later this week or at the gates when the tournament begins, which is where the majority of their sales come from.
“We’ve eclipsed all of our numbers already,” Cavner says. “So we expect a really, really big week.”
Scheffler’s 3M Open debut goes down as the biggest get in the event’s short history. The tournament started in 2019 and has drawn other big names like Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka, although for most it was before they became major winners.
But Scheffler’s commitment was still a surprising one.
The 3M Open again falls after the Open Championship, the final major of the year. The majority of the top players also competed in the Genesis Scottish Open the week before, meaning besides not taking a well-deserved break at the conclusion of the major season, playing the 3M Open, for most, means three straight starts — and a long flight to Minneapolis after what had already been a long series of flights.
The tournament officially announced Scheffler had committed to the field on May 4. Cavner said he knew about a month earlier.
“We had to hide it and not tell anybody,” he said, “which was hard.”
Cavner, the CEO of Pro Links Sports, is deeply rooted in the pro game and has long overseen tournament execution — and recruiting — at stops like the Valspar Championship and the Wells Fargo Championship. He knows Scheffler’s agent, Blake Smith, well, and he’s good friends with Scheffler’s long-time coach, Randy Smith. During 3M Open media day last month he joked, “I think we finally wore [Scottie] down.”
“We have been talking to him about coming for years,” Cavner said. “This year it worked with the schedule where he could play on the way back from Europe, so it really just worked out great.”
It does make sense, too. After the 3M Open, the Tour heads to Detroit (Rocket Classic) and North Carolina (Wyndham Championship) before the first of three straight tournaments for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Scheffler didn’t want that much time off before the next biggest stretch of the season. Playing Detroit would mean a one-off travel week — players usually like to string starts together — and entering Wyndham would mean four straight starts.
“For me, it was good scheduling,” Scheffler said during his Wednesday press conference. “We had two weeks in the U.K., and three weeks off before the playoffs didn’t seem like the most ideal way to set up my schedule. This was a tournament that I’ve heard a lot of good things about.”
Scheffler arrived here via one of the planes provided by 3M tournament organizers, took Monday off — he visited downtown Minneapolis with his family — and played the back nine on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday he had a 6:40 a.m. pro-am tee time with Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell on the front nine. (His internal clock is getting back to normal, too, as he slept all the way to his alarm on Wednesday, unlike Tuesday.)
“The golf course has a decent amount of length to it, there’s some pretty long par-4s and a good amount of water, and so when the rough is up like that, there’s going to be a premium I think on hitting fairways,” he said. “When you’re in play, you’re going to get some scorable clubs on some certain holes. And the greens are fairly big, so if you’re in the fairway, things are going to be a lot easier for you. Once you start hitting in the rough, it could be tough.”
Cavner also credited the family-friendly atmosphere and hospitality focused on players and caddies for helping get Scheffler here. (Scheffler also mentioned it during his Wednesday press conference.) Cavner is hopeful other players follow in Scheffler’s footsteps and play this event in the future, especially if Scheffler has good things to report.
That said, the future of this tournament, or at least its status within the PGA Tour’s new hierarchy, is somewhat in question. The tournament has a contract with the Tour until 2030, although the Tour’s new two-track system begins in 2028. It’s unclear where the 3M Open will land, and the result would have a major impact on the field.
But for now, the 3M Open is celebrating its biggest draw in history. And Scheffler signed every autograph waiting for him after his Tuesday round.
“People seem to be really thankful that we’re here, which is surprising for a golf tournament,” Scheffler said. “Everything so far has just been simple and easy and the people have been really nice, the fans have been really nice. There was a decent amount of people out yesterday for a practice round. So I’m excited to get the week started, excited to get out in front of the fans this week and play some golf and see what the tournament environment will be like.”
