Vegas Prevails at 3M Open, Coughlin Collects 1st LPGA Tour Win | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
July 28th, 2024 

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the professional golf world, the PGA Tour was in Minnesota for the 3M Open, while the LPGA Tour was in Alberta, Canada for the CPKC Women’s Open.

3M Open - Tournament History 

The 3M Open is a relatively new addition to the PGA Tour, making its debut in 2019 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota. The tournament replaced the 3M Championship, which had been a PGA Tour Champions event. The transition to a PGA Tour event brought a fresh energy to the tournament and expanded its reach to a wider and younger audience that is excited about golf’s rising stars. In its inaugural year, the 3M Open saw Matthew Wolff secure a memorable victory, defeating Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau for his first PGA Tour win. 

Since its inception, the 3M Open has quickly gained popularity among both players and fans due to its challenging, yet scorable course layout and the enthusiastic support from the local community. With it being the penultimate regular season event on the PGA Tour schedule, many players will add or remove this event from their schedule at the last minute, depending on their position in the FedEx Cup standings. With the playoffs looming just two weeks away, players near the cutoff line (Top 70), will have to grind extra hard to ensure themselves a spot in the playoffs. The 3M Open continues to play a pivotal role in the season-long story, and has seen some exciting winners in the past including: 

2024 - Jhonattan Vegas (-17)
2023 - Lee Hodges (-24) 
2022 - Tony Finau (-17)
2021 - Cameron Champ (-15)
2020 - Michael Thompson (-19)

The Big Swing 

This week, the big swing belongs to PGA Tour veteran Jhonattan Vegas. It’s been over seven years since Vegas last won on the PGA Tour. The 39-year-old from Venezuela has had a nice career that’s highlighted by three PGA Tour victories and two appearances in the Olympic Games. Lately, however, injuries have brought more inconsistency to his game. But Top 25 finishes in back-to-back starts leading into the 3M Open hinted at a big week. 

He opened the week with rounds of 68 and 66, putting himself in a comfortable position heading to the weekend. Canadian Taylor Pendrith continued his strong play this week and started with 66 and 64 to take the lead after two rounds. Sahith Theegala, making his first appearance at the 3M Open, also got off to a hot start with rounds of 66 and 69 to put him within striking distance of Pendrith with 36 holes to play. 

Scores remained fairly low on the weekend, as the temperatures in the Twin cities rose into the 90s. Vegas made his big move on Saturday, carding bogey-free 63 (including a 6-under 30 on the back nine) to grab the 54-hole lead at 16-under-par. Meanwhile, another veteran in Matt Kuchar also fired a 63 on Saturday to surge up the leaderboard just behind Vegas. After Kuchar, Maverick McNealy sat two shots back while Theegala and Patrick Fishburn were four back at 12-under.

Sunday was another hot day in the Twin Cities, but a pretty strong breeze rolled through the area providing some relief to fans and players on the grounds. The wind also provided a defense for the course. However, Max Greyserman wasn’t phased. He began the day eight shots back, but made birdies on Nos. 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12 to vault himself into the mix. 

Vegas and Kuchar, meanwhile, struggled to get anything going, which provided hope for the chasers like Greyserman. Theegala, Fishburn, and McNealy all shot just one-under 71 for the day, unable to take advantage of the leaders’ struggles. 

Greyserman added birdies on Nos. 14, 16, and 18 to shoot eight-under-par 63 and take the clubhouse lead at 16-under-par. Vegas and Kuchar, meanwhile, plodded along hovering around even par most of the day. After a bogey at No. 13 dropped Vegas to -15 for the tournament, a birdie at the long par-4 15th brought him back to -16. 

Standing on the par-5 18th tee, Vegas was tied with Greyserman while Kuchar was a shot back. Vegas found the fairway off the tee, putting him in the driver’s seat. Kuchar, meanwhile, found the left rough and was forced to lay up on his second shot. His third wound up 18 feet below the hole, and the birdie putt missed, eliminating him from contention. 

Vegas was able to hit the green in two, but he faced some 95 feet to negotiate a two-putt and win the tournament. With Greyserman warming up on the range hoping to get an opportunity at a playoff, Vegas lagged an impressive long, winding eagle putt across the 18th green to about three feet. When the birdie putt found the bottom of the hole, Jhonattan Vegas secured his fourth PGA Tour title, and his first since the 2017 RBC Canadian Open. For Max Greyserman, the runner up is his best finish of his first season on the PGA Tour.

Winner’s Bag - Jonattan Vegas 

The 39-year-old year old veteran is playing on a medical exemption this year after missing lots of time the last couple of years because of injuries and major surgeries. Vegas has been a long-time success on the PGA Tour, but his winning days seemed like they were behind him. After struggling with putting all season long, Vegas made a change to a L.A.B putter in Detroit at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and the results have spoken for themselves. After a T25 at the Rocket Mortgage and a T20 at the John Deere, Vegas peaked at the 3M and ended a seven-year drought. Vegas plays a variety of equipment, starting with a Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees). Vegas also carries a TaylorMade M6 Rocket 3-wood (14 degrees). He carries a Titleist T200 3-iron, along with a set of Mizuno MP4 irons (4-PW). Around the greens, Vegas carries a pair of Vokey SM10s (50 and 54 degrees) along with a TaylorMade MG Hi-Toe lob wedge (60 degrees). On the greens, the big change for Vegas was the putter which is now a L.A.B. Golf Link.1. 

Key stats: 
Strokes gained: off the tee- 9th
Stories gained: approach to green- 8th
Strokes gained: around the green- 53rd 
Strokes gained: putting- 8th 
Strokes gained: total- 1st 

In The World of Women’s Golf 

This week the LPGA Tour was north of the border in Alberta, Canada for the CPKC Women’s Open. The field featured plenty of firepower, as Lydia Ko, Jennifer Kupcho, Brooke Henderson, Rose Zhang, and Hannah Green were all a part of the star studded field in Canada. But the special week belonged to the 31-year-old from Minneapolis, Lauren Coughlin, who has really burst onto the scene as a threat on the LPGA Tour this season. 

Coughlin is experiencing a breakthrough season in 2024 after grinding for years through the ranks of women’s professional golf, most notably posting a T3 finish at the Chevron Championship, her best finish in a major. The only thing missing prior to this week, of course, was an LPGA Tour victory. She opened with rounds of 68 and 70, leaving her on the brink of contention. 

She made her big move on Saturday, carding a six-under 66 that included eight birdies. The round vaulted her to 12-under-par for the week and in second place on the leaderboard, just behind Haeran Ryu. 

Sunday proved to be a battle from the start, but Coughlin outlasted the battle better than her competitors. Ryu shot a front-nine 34 to increase the lead to three, but a double bogey on No. 11 dropped her back down to just a one shot separation.  Coughlin and Ryu made pars until the par-5 15th, where they each made birdie. This is when the story shifts. 

Ryu struggled over the final three holes, making bogey on each of them to come plummeting down to 10-under-par. Coughlin, meanwhile, played the three-hole stretch in one-under, including a crucial birdie on No. 17 that provided some breathing room with the final hole looming. She made par to earn her first LPGA Tour victory.

What's in the Bag?

For her win, Coughlin played an entire bag made of PING clubs. She plays a PING G430 MAX 10K Driver at 9.75 degrees. She plays a single PING G430 3 Wood at 14 degrees and pairs that with a PING G425 4 hybrid and a PING G425 5 hybrid for her long game. For her irons, Couglin plays the PING i230 for her 6 iron through the pitching wedge. Moving to her wedges where she stays with PING's newest wedges, playing the s159 raw wedges for her 54 and 58 degree wedges. For her flat stick, Cougling rolls the PING PLD Milled Oslo 3.