3M Open: Adam Svensson leads by two shots after opening round in Minnesota
Adam Svensson makes nine birdies and an eagle, while not dropping a shot in the lowest round in the 3M Open's seven-year history; leads by two shots ahead of Sam Stevens and Thorbjorn Olesen; watch the 2025 Ryder Cup from September 26-28 live on Sky Sports Golf
Friday 25 July 2025 08:25, UK
Adam Svensson made a monster eagle putt on the 18th to complete a 3M Open record opening round of 60 and secure a two-shot lead over Sam Stevens and Thorbjorn Olesen.
Svensson also made nine birdies and did not drop a shot in the lowest round in the tournament's seven-year history. He tied the TPC Twin Cities course record set by Paul Goydos at the 2017 3M Championship on the PGA Tour Champions.
Chris Gotterup, who finished third at last week's British Open and won the Scottish Open two weeks ago, was three shots back along with Chad Ramey and Matti Schmid. Zac Blair, Chris Kirk, Jake Knapp and Brendan Valdes were another shot back, and Rickie Fowler and Emiliano Grillo were among those at six under.
Svensson's lone tour win is the 2022 RSM Classic. The 31-year-old Canadian has one top-25 finish in 21 starts this season and has missed 11 cuts.
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"I had a great range session today. Just really putted amazing, I made a bunch of breakers. It was probably my best putting round I ever had," said Svensson, who needed just 25 putts, including a nearly 40-foot birdie on the 11th hole and a 34-footer on the fourth.
His career-best 60 is the second-lowest score on the PGA Tour this season. Jake Knapp shot 59 at the Cognizant Classic in February.
Stevens could have shot 59 with an eagle on the par-five 18th, but instead he put his second shot from 246 yards into the water in front of the green, leading to his lone bogey and a 62 that was still his lowest round on tour.
"I have a pretty big gap between my three-iron and my three-wood, and I hit a terrible shot. I thought if I hit a three-wood, it was just going to fly to the back of the green, and I kind of had to hit a three-iron perfect to even cover the water. But I figured that was my best chance to shoot 59, so I gave it a go," he said.
Fowler and Grillo are among a group of 18 players who rank between 60th and 80th in the FedEx Cup standings, needing a strong performance to help secure spots in the 70-man field for the first playoff event in two weeks. Fowler entered the week at No. 63 and Grillo is No. 71.
"At the end of the day, good golf solves a lot of things," Fowler said.
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