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BLAINE, Minn. (KMSP) - For two decades, the 3M Championship brought competitive golf annually to Minnesota as legends of the past hit the links. Starting in 2019, those greats of yesteryear will give way to the best golfers of today.
The PGA Tour is making a long awaited comeback to the state with a new FedEx Cup event called the “3M Open.”
“It was time to go to the next level,” Pro Links Sports Executive Director Hollis Cavner said Monday.
The new tournament is a seven-year deal at TPC Twin Cities, but one that has been in the works for more than a decade. “We’ve been working on it for 12 years, but really pushing for it for eight years,” Cavner said. “This town deserves something full-time.”
“This will be at least three times as big as the 3M Championship,” 3M Senior Vice President of Business Development Paul Keel said. “Personally, I’m hopeful it is a little more.”
Events like the 2016 Ryder Cup solidified Minnesota’s standing in the golf world by impressing some of the best players in the game.
Now, the 3M Open hopes to build on that success.
“We’ve done our research and we know that the players want to come here and play,” Cavner said. “I think we’re going to do enough to the golf course to keep it tough enough for them.”
The official date of the first annual event in Blaine will be released in the next few weeks when the tour schedule is put out. A June to July window is expected for the 3M Open.
Whenever it is held, organizers want to make sure that the event has much more going on than just golf.
“It’s a party atmosphere, it really is,” Cavner said. “We want it to be something that’s a happening. It’s a summer event where everybody wants to go.”