Lee Hodges Wins First Career PGA Tour Event
Blaine, MN – Lee Hodges (-25) won the 2023 3M Open to claim his first career PGA Tour victory. He beat three players by 8 strokes. Hodges entered the day with a five stroke lead and never looked like he was going to relinquish it. He is a good example of the different paths to victory PGA Tour players can take, as not everyone wins right out of the gate. The 28-year-old Alabama native turned pro in 2018.
JT Poston finished T2 after closing with a triple bogey, alongside Kevin Streelman and Martin Laird. Finishing behind them were Dylan Wu and Keith Mitchell finishing one stroke behind them in fifth. Last year’s champion Tony Finau finished one stroke behind them in a tie for seventh with Sam Ryder and Aaron Baddeley.
While TPC Twin Cities is eminently gettable and has bigger than average greens, as evidenced by another low scoring week, trouble is lurking on many of the tee shots. Some of the bigger names in the field failed to cope with the test well enough and missed the cut, including Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Sungjae Im, and Sepp Straka.
Other players who had positive performances included Cam Davis, who finished T10 and vaulted himself just inside the top 70 heading into next week; Emiliano Grillo, who also finished T10 and kept up his good form generally and on this golf course; and Beau Hossler, who shot a course record 62 on Sunday to jump up to T13 at -13.
Next week, the PGA Tour heads to North Carolina for the final stop on the regular season schedule at the Wyndham Championship. Tom Kim is the defending champion and will tee it up alongside a host of players trying to make it into the top 70 in order to make the first week of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Notable players on the bubble include Shane Lowry (76), Justin Thomas (79), and Adam Scott (81).
Lee Hodges What’s In The Bag
Driver: Titleist TSR2 8.0° (Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution VI)
3 Wood: Titleist TSR3 15° (UST Mamiya LIN-Q M40X 8F5)
Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 21° (KBS Tour Hybrid Prototype 95 X)
Irons: Titleist T200 3, Titleist T100 4-6, Titleist 620 CB 7-9 (KBS Tour C-Taper 130 X)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 46°-10F, 52°-08F, 56°-10S, 60°-04L (KBS Tour C-Taper 130X (46°, 52°), KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 125S (56°, 60°))
Putter: Scotty Cameron Golo 6 tour prototype
Dylan Thaemert
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