Birdie break at 3M Open

Hardy risked his chance to score well on the par4 9th hole, where he was nearing the end of his opening game. On the last hole of the round, he hit behind a tree in the rough grass to the right of the fairway. That spot was 184 yards from the flag and had to cross the lake to reach the target while the club sure hit the trunk after making contact with the ball. But Hardy defied that, slamming the 9-iron on his second shot. The shaft near the clubhead was immediately bent due to embracing the body of the obstacle, and the ball entered the green, 3.3 meters from the hole for Hardy to finish from there.

"There was still a corner to go to the green so I just hit. Picked the 9 iron because I was afraid the 8 would cross the green. The hardest part of that shot was swinging only half a circle. But as soon as I hit, I knew I would win. good results. Risk is rewarded", Hardy explained the situation just escaped the birdie on the 9th hole.

It helped him to a 6th place, standing T6 two strokes from the top of the table. The lead belongs to Lee Hodges and T2 (-7) consists of four hands, including Hideki Matsuyama who won the major Masters 2021 in addition to eight cups on the PGA Tour.

Hardy is 27 years old, playing professionally since 2018, has passed 60 tournaments in the US first-class golf arena with one championship, at the Zurich Classic team club tournament in April, when paired with Davis Riley.

The 3M Open opened on July 27, at TPC Twin Cities par71, with 156 players, including defending champion Tony Finau. Last period, Finau set a winning milestone of -17, receiving $ 1.35 million in a $ 7.5 million bonus fund. This period, the bonus budget is up to USD 8.7 million, of which the winning part is USD 1,566 million. After round 1, Finau stood at T9 (-5).