Steve Palmer: 3M Open first-round preview, best bets & free golf tips

Free golf tips, best bets and analysis for the first round of the 3M Open on Thursday.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Golf, 2pm Thursday

Best bets

Kristoffer Ventura top European
1pt 16-1 Betway, Coral, Lads, Sky Bet

Erik van Rooyen top Rest of the World
1pt 6-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

Sam Burns to win threeball
1pt 6-5 BoyleSports

Patrick Rodgers to beat Henrik Norlander
1pt 10-11 Betway (tie no bet)

First-round preview

Dustin Johnson, Tommy Fleetwood and Tony Finau form the glamour threeball at the 3M Open, teeing off at 1.30pm UK and Ireland time for their first round, and the contest is a difficult one for punters to have a confident view on.

Johnson won the Travelers Championship then served up an ugly pair of 80s to miss the cut in the Memorial. Fleetwood has just finished two weeks of quarantine in New York and has not competed since missing the cut at Bay Hill in March, while Finau contended in the Memorial last week but got progressively worse (66-69-73-78) and finished a distant eighth.

Johnson would be the tentative advice for anyone wishing to have an interest on the top match, but a safer threeball bet is Sam Burns at a shade of odds-against to defeat Ben Martin and Scott Harrington in their 7.20pm meeting. Burns, seventh in last year's inaugural 3M Open and in bright post-lockdown form, should be a leading title contender this week.

At much bigger prices, Kristoffer Ventura and Erik van Rooyen are worth following in the top European and top rest of the world markets respectively. Ventura is deep in the betting, but with Fleetwood looking a rusty and vulnerable favourite, the Euro market appears wide open.

Ventura, twice a champion on the Korn Ferry Tour, has returned from the coronavirus suspension looking sharp. TPC Twin Cities seems ideal terrain for the Norwegian birdie machine to make merry. The youngster is powerful and a great putter.

Van Rooyen knows TPC Twin Cities better than any other PGA Tour venue, having attended the University of Minnesota, and 22nd place in the Memorial was an encouraging warm-up spin for the South African.

This venue sets up better for Patrick Rodgers than Henrik Norlander, a pair of debutants who have been pitched in a 72-hole match by Betway. The 10-11 Rodgers, with the tie no bet, is a more than fair offer.

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