The attention of the golfing world returns to the PGA Tour this week, after the excitement of Collin Morikawa’s victory in the Open Championship last weekend, with the TPC Twin Cities course in Minnesota hosting the 3M Open.

Dustin Johnson is the favourite this week, understandably after his top-10 finish in the Open, but we’re reluctant to side with any of the players who were in the heat of the battle at Sandwich and then had to travel back across the Atlantic. That also rules out Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed and Tony Finau.

Instead we’re going to take a punt on Maverick MacNealy, and not just because Top Gun 2 is due for release shortly! The young American star has been playing very consistently of late, finishing tied 18, tied 21, tied 30 and tied 20 in his last four starts. He is bang in-form and on the cusp of a breakthrough if he continues to drive it as well as he has been of late. 

Back in Europe, the Celtic Manor course in south Wales hosts the Cazoo Open.

The field reflects the second tier nature of the event. with England’s Matt Wallace, winless in three years, heading the betting. Instead we’re going to side with Daniel van Tonder. The South African has already won this year, clinching the Kenya Savannah Classic in a playoff and he leads the European Tour statistics for strokes gained off the tee.

He started like a train last week at Sandwich, carding opening rounds of 68 and 66, and so clearly has the ability to triumph at this lesser test.

Recommendations:

3M Open: MacNealy 0.5 pts each way at 60/1, 1/4 the odds for the first five places, bet365

Cazoo Open: Van Tonder 0.5 pts each way at 33/1, 1/4 the odds for the first five places, bet365

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