3M Open 2020: Richy Werenski Shoots 63, Leads by 1 Stroke After 1st Round

After two consecutive weeks of Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, frustrating players, the opening round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota offered a bit of a reprieve for the field. 

Nineteen golfers got to five under or better on Thursday—81 golfers found themselves under par overall—with Richy Werenski (eight under) finishing the round atop the leaderboard.

Dustin Johnson (seven over) withdrew from the tournament with a back injury after shooting 78. It continued a trend of concerning outings for the former No. 1-ranked player after he scored consecutive 80s last week to miss the cut. 

3M Open Thursday Leaderboard 

1. Richy Werenski (-8)

2. Michael Thompson (-7)

T3. Tony Finau (-6)

T3. Ryan Moore (-6)

T3. Xinjun Zhang (-6)

T3. Nick Watney (-6)

T3. Matthew Wolff (-6)

T3. Max Homa (-6)

T3. Bo Hoag (-6)

Notables: T20. Bubba Watson (-4), T57. Brooks Koepka (-1), T82. Tommy Fleetwood (E)

Full leaderboard available via PGA Tour

Highlights

Bo Van Pelt (five under) hit the shot of the tournament with an incredible hole-in-one on the par-three eighth hole. Van Pelt's tee shot from 195 yards out caught a great bounce on the lip of the green, rolled toward the cup and dropped in gently: 

Matthew Wolff had his own awe-inspiring shot on No. 15 after finding the rough off the tee. With a tree branch laying against his back, Wolff used his unorthodox backswing to clear the tree and land the ball safely on the green. He would wind up saving par before picking up birdies on Nos. 16 and 18.

The field at the 3M is noticeably thinner than the last two weeks with the likes of Tiger Woods, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Phil Mickelson and more deciding to sit out. Yet there were plenty of big names in Minnesota on Thursday.  

Tony Finau continued his stellar season with seven birdies in his opening round, with five coming on the back nine.  

Yet no one put on a performance quite like Werenski, who finished with nine birdies and just one bogey. The biggest missed opportunity for the current leader came on the par-four No. 3. Werenski's par putt fell just short of the cup, but he responded by rattling off three birdies in his next four holes.

The No. 248-ranked golfer in the world hit 83.33 percent of his greens in regulation and picked up 4.375 strokes on his putts. 

Friday's Round 2 action begins at 7:45 a.m. ET on PGA Tour Live, with Golf Channel picking up coverage at 2:30 p.m. ET.