Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the final round of the 3M Open at the Tournament Players Course in Blaine. As I’ve written before it’s amazing that a professional golf tournament happens in Blaine. This is an opportunity that many Metro communities across the United States don’t have. Though I’ve never golfed on the course, I’m familiar with it as my local Rotary club met in the clubhouse for many years. And I attend the tournament every year.
The people of Chain of Lakes Church have worked the concessions stands at the 3M Open as a fundraiser for many years. We had so many volunteers this year who signed up that there were no openings left for me. I ended up not working at a concession stand. A big thanks to the large number of folks from Chain of Lakes
who were there. Appreciate you all!
I watched the tournament on television on Friday and Saturday. I thought about avoiding the heat on Sunday and spend the afternoon in front of the television. But I couldn’t resist the opportunity of being there in person.
My wife, Amy, and I had friends who came up to the tournament with plans to go to the concert on Saturday night. Everyone who attended that day could go to the concert by Andy Grammar for free. Our friends spent most of the day on Saturday sitting in the covered stands on hole 18.
But there was no opportunity to sit in a covered stand on Sunday. The crowds were ginormous. The presence of Scottie Scheffler significantly increased the number of people who attended. In the past I could park at the parking lot at the Blaine Sports Center and get a bus to enter the tournament. But that parking lot and many others were full. I ended up parking in a space on the southwest corner of Radisson and 105th Ave and walking a half mile to get a bus.
Amy was volunteering at the tournament on Sunday. After touching base with her when I arrived, I went to hole 4 and saw Jackson Koivun. Koivun had a birdie on hole 4 and looked confident—ready to win the tournament.
Scheffler had an outstanding round on Sunday. After sinking his third birdie in a row at hole 12 he was only three back. But he started the day so far behind that he needed Jackson Koivun to make some bogies. And Koivun didn't make any bogeys. Scottie would have had to shoot a 60 for a tie. He missed a seven-foot putt at hole 14 that would have put him two back. But the initial deficit was too big to overcome.
The pack that I was in could not get enough of Scottie. Most of them were on a first-name basis with him, “Come on Scottie, Go Scottie, You got this, Scottie.” The large crowds were there to see him win.
The heat was a burden. Afterwards in a press conference I watched, Scottie (I guess I'm on a first-name basis with him too) said that the players were prepared for the heat. Through their conditioning the golfers could golf in 98-degree heat with dew points in the 70’s. Who says golfers aren't athletes? Even though I run three times a week, the heat was bothersome as I walked with the pack. The 3M Open has many concession stands, but because of the large crowds they always had lines. And the golfers don’t waste time. To stand in line for fifteen minutes would have meant falling a hole behind.
Once Scottie finished it was obvious that he wasn’t going to win. And when I saw the somewhat short line for the bus, the lure of getting cool led me to leave before Koivun was done. At that point it was obvious that he would win.
Scottie had a terrific tournament. He has raised the expectations for himself to such an extent that finishing second seems like a defeat. He lost the tournament when he hit the ball into the water on hole 14 on Friday. If he had parred that hole, the competition on Sunday would have been much different.
What a treat to have the 3M Open in Blaine. If Koivun does go on to become a Hall of Fame golfer, I can say that I was at the first tournament that he won!
Already looking forward to next year--and definitely hoping for cooler temperatures
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