⛳ Quick Update: 3M Open

Good Morning. In his entire professional career, Calvin Peete only hit one ball out of bounds. If you’ve got a cooler stat than that, reply to this email with it right now and we will feature hit here Monday.

Here's what we've got for ya today:

• Quick Update: 3M Open

• Jay Monahan is Back

• Golf Shots Heard Round The World

• Swingers in Vegas

• Golf Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke

Quick Update: The Open

We are live from Blaine, Minnesota. Well, not really, but the pros are there playing at TPC Twin Cities and they are going low. As expected.

Just not the guys we expected, necessarily. More on that below.

Also, the first round was called due to inclement weather, so some people are finishing up their first rounds first thing in the morning. Right about the time you should be receiving this email, actually.

Lee Hodges: Bogey free and eight under is a helluva way to start a golf tournament. In his post round presser, he credited his performance to “getting out of his own way” and “trying not to do too much”. Heard that brother, heard that.

Hideki Matsuyama: Hideki, Tony Finau, and Sepp Straka were together in a featured group. As you may recall from Wednesday, we really liked Sepp Straka this week due to his recent form. Hideki and Tony went low, Sepp shot even par. Go figure.

Nick Hardy: Shot of the day goes to Nick Hardy. ICYMI: He bent his nine iron around a tree and still stuffed it in close.  

Everybody Else: Billy Horschel, who opened up earlier in the season about his struggles, finally got some momentum behind him. Justin Thomas, who was the talk of the tour due to his own recent struggles, was part of the afternoon wave that had to battle the wind and weather a little more. He notched a solid -2 for the day. Sam Bennett is keeping our long shot bet alive, also at two-under.

💰️ Shanks Picks 💰️ 

Not our best card. We will be sweating the Make The Cut Parlay big time, with Ludvig Aberg finishing his first round this morning (he was +2 through 16) and Sepp Straka and Cam Young both at even par.

Of course, we live to sweat the cut line bets.

Our card from Wednesday. 

Jay Monahan Is Back

The PGA Tour’s fearless leader has been back at work and sent out an official memo on Wednesday evening. We love an official memo. Look at the letterhead! What a professional this man is.

A Few Questions…

• How exactly will “tour loyalists” like Rickie Fowler, or Willy Z be financially compensated?

• Will they be using different balls depending on where they play?

• What the hell is professional golf going to look like in a few years?

It’s going to take a while for the smoke to clear on this mess.

Golf Shots Heard Round The World

New Putter: Justin Thomas is testing out a new putter this week. A Scotty Cameron Prototype Phantom X9 with a 38-inch counterbalanced shaft, to be exact.

3M Tee Times: Round 2 Tee Times and How To Watch.

Tax Exempt: Senate introduces bill to revoke PGA Tour of tax-exempt status, limit tax breaks for Saudi Arabia's PIF.

Swingers in Vegas

Swingers in Las Vegas, Nevada you say? We’re not surprised, but why are we talking about this in a newsletter about golf?

We’re talking about this insanely sick new mini golf venue by Swingers Crazy Golf, who just secured $52 million to construct 5 mini golf tracks at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Scheduled to open in 2024, the mini golf courses are targeting the 21-and-over crowd with craft cocktails served by caddies, a variety of street food, a theatrical setting, and DJs playing music every night.

So if you’re in Las Vegas, feeling ultra lucky, it might be time to ditch the slots and head over to the Swingers courses to try your luck at hole-in-ones for some putting tournament money!! Lord knows I’ll be there and 3-putting everything while holding a pina colada.

Golf Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke

Was scrolling the gram the other night and came across this cool little print shop that just launched.

It’s called Studio Seven Two and they have some dope golf prints for your office, home bar, or whatever.

See More Here.

That's all folks! Have a great weekend of golf and see you Monday for The 3M Open recap!