3M Open: Everything you need to know, and players to watch this week in Blaine

What: The second-to-last regular-season tournament on the PGA Tour schedule. The FedEx Cup playoffs begin Aug. 10.

Where: TPC Twin Cities in Blaine (Par 71, 7,431 yards).

Schedule: Gates open at 8 a.m. Tuesday and 6:30 a.m. Wednesday for practice rounds and pro-ams. The 72-hole tournament begins Thursday morning, with gates open at 6:30 a.m. each day.

Leaderboard and tee times.

Broadcast schedule: Golf Channel (1-5 p.m. Thursday-Friday; noon-2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday) and Ch. 4 (2-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday) have live main coverage. ESPN+ will provide early morning streaming coverage Thursday-Sunday. The pay platform plans channels for a main feed, feature groups, marquee groups and cameras stationed on hole Nos. 4, 8, 13 and 17. Additionally, PGA Tour Radio will broadcast from the course each afternoon on Sirius Ch. 208 or XM Ch. 92 satellite radio (available for free on the PGA Tour app and pgatour.com).

Purse: $7.8 million ($1.404 million to the winner).

Winning FedEx Cup points: 500.

Cut: Low 65 players and ties after 36 holes.

Tickets: $25 general admission grounds passes Tuesday and Wednesday. $65 general admission grounds passes for tournament rounds. Kids 15 and under are admitted free with adult admission. Discounts are available for students and military members. There are also several enhanced packages that include climate-controlled reserved seating, food and beverage selections. Purchase tickets online at 3mopen.com or at the gate.

Parking: $10 (online prepay) at the National Sports Center.

Weather: A heat wave is forecast for the week. Umbrellas and chairs are permitted, as are empty reusable metal or plastic cups up to 32 ounces. Small purses 6 inches by 6 inches or smaller are allowed, as are clear plastic or vinyl bags smaller than 1 foot by 6 inches by 1 foot.

Concessions: The 3M Open is cashless.

Last year: Trailing by five, Tony Finau shot a 4-under-par 67 on Sunday to finish at 17 under and a three-shot victory. Finau's steady play allowed him to leapfrog Sunday leader Scott Piercy, who unraveled with a final round 76 and 13 under total. Sungjae Im and Emiliano Grillo tied for second at 14 under. The 3M Open was Finau's third career victory, and he backed it up a week later with a win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Justin Thomas

Stuck in the first prolonged slump of his career and on the heels of an 11-over score at the British Open, the former world No. 1 comes to Blaine barely ranked among the top 20. He sits 76th in the FedEx standings, with the top 70 qualifying for the first PGA Tour playoff event, the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, on Aug. 10. The two-time PGA Championship winner is also on thin ice for making the U.S. Ryder Cup squad.

Cameron Young

Young was voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2022 after tying for third at the PGA Championship and finishing runner-up at the British Open. Then this season, he helped the U.S. win the Presidents Cup, tied for seventh at the Masters, was runner-up in the WGC Match Play and just wrapped up a top-10 finish at Royal Liverpool on Sunday, when he played in the final group with winner Brian Harman but shot a final-round 73. Still seeking his first PGA Tour win, Young has risen to No. 18 in the world rankings.

Sepp Straka

The first Austrian to win on the PGA Tour when he broke through at the 2022 Honda Classic, he picked up a second victory earlier this month with a two-shot triumph at the John Deere Classic. His final-round 62 was a career low. Straka tied for second at the British Open, shooting a final-round 69 on Sunday, and he has enjoyed a resurgence this season (18th in FedEx points) after trudging through six consecutive missed cuts last summer from June to August.

Emiliano Grillo

Grillo finally got back into winning form in May with a playoff victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge, ending a drought of more than 7½ years. It's enough to ensure Grillo will make the FedEx Cup playoffs for an eighth consecutive season. His 68 on Sunday at rainy Royal Liverpool, where he tied for sixth, was bested by only three players. In addition to his runner-up finish in Blaine last season, he was also tied for third in 2020 with weekend rounds of 64-65.

Adam Hadwin

The Saskatchewan native likes playing here. Go figure. He finished fourth in the inaugural 3M Open in 2019 then tied for sixth two years later and faded to 38th last year after a second-round 75 that featured a tee shot on No. 15 that nearly reached Radisson Road. He has two runner-up finishes in 2023 — but is perhaps best remembered as the player security tackled on the green last month as he was celebrating countryman Nick Taylor's victory at the Canadian Open.

LOCAL CONNECTIONS

Blaine's Caleb VanArragon, winner of both the Minnesota State Open and State Am this month, was given an exemption Sunday night. Tom Hoge (Fargo), Troy Merritt (Spring Lake Park), Erik van Rooyen (Gophers), Frankie Capan III (Stillwater), Derek Hitchner (Blake School) and Thomas Lehman (son of Tom) also can expect large followings this week.

OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE GOLFERS

Kyle Rudolph, Larry Fitzgerald Jr., Matt Dumba and Justin Morneau will participate as part of a skills challenge at 6 p.m. on Wednesday on the driving range.