The Last Waltz… 3M’s Final Dance

On August 5^th, 2018 the last champion of the PGA TOUR Champions 3M Championship was crowned. For a record tying third time, Kenny Perry held the trophy after three days of competition. While this may have been the last edition for the seniors, they certainly went out in style.

Over the three days of competition, crowds were entertained with low scores, greats of the game and a final round that lived up to the tournament’s reputation for excitement.

Day 1

Round 1 saw Jerry Smith jump out to a 2-stroke lead over 4 players including eventual winner Perry. Smith fired a 64 on the par 72 layout. Despite his low score, a whopping 24 players shot sub-seventy rounds and a full 36 players were within 6 shots of the lead.

In a field littered with Hall of Famers, Smith’s career is as common as his name. A journeyman in the professional game, Smith has competed on multiple Tours worldwide including a victory in the 1998 Guam Open on the Omega Tour.

After stints as a Club Professional as well in Iowa and Wyoming, Smith earned full exemption on the PGA TOUR Champions for 2015 by finishing T3 in the 2014 Qualifying Tournament. That season he earned the Rookie of the Year and won his first title at Encompass Championship near Chicago.

This season had not gone as well and history at the 3M has not been great for Smith. In fact, round one’s 64 was his lowest round of the season. When asked if he saw a change coming, Smith was honest in his assessment.

“Not really… it (TPC Twin Cities) wouldn’t necessarily be a course that I would be super comfortable with shooting a low score, but I know you have to and I was fortunate to do enough good things today to shoot one of those low rounds.” Smith continued, “I know to be in contention on Sunday you’re going to have to just keep the pedal down. So hopefully I can do that. Like I said, it’s been a few years that I wouldn’t say I’ve been struggling, but I just really haven’t played, I thought, some of my best golf. So maybe this is the start of something, who knows.”

Day 2

The hot and humid conditions of Friday turned into windy and rainy on day 2. Poor forecast for the afternoon not only forced tournament officials to move up the tee times, but also threatened the tournaments biggest draw, the Post-It Products Greats of Golf.

As has become tradition, organizers brought in some of the game’s royalty to compete in a scramble format pitting players like Dave Stockton and Ben Crenshaw against both PGA and LPGA legends. The LPGA was well represented again this year with appearances by Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley and Annika Sorenstam. The main attraction, as it is every year, was the super-team of Lee Trevino, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

As expected (or at least hopped for by most of the crowd), the team of Trevino, Player and Nicklaus took home the trophy, but the appearance of such legends far outweighs the score.

Take, for example, KSTP Channel 5 Political Reporter Tom Hauser and his son Nick. You see “Nick” is short for Nicklaus. While Hauser has a great reputation as an unbiased, no nonsense reporter, he has an unashamed love affair with golf and, in particular, one Mr. Nicklaus.

“Jack Nicklaus has always been my favorite golfer since I was a kid and I was privileged to be at the 2005 Masters and saw his last hole at The Masters on 18 when he stuck it to about 3 or 4 feet from the pin. The gallery went crazy… and then he missed the putt. So I’ve been waiting for him to make a big putt out here today just to complete that circle.”

Hauser continued, “It’s so much fun because I alway thought he represented himself and the game of golf so well that I thought he was worthy of naming one of my son’s after him. So I named him Nicklaus. I thought it was fitting, and then it turns out Nick (his son) loves the game of golf.”

Speaking with Tom’s son, it seemed the importance was not lost.

“It means a lot. I’ve never seen him before in person. It was a really big deal for my dad to get me out here today and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” said the younger Hauser.

After the Greats finished their round, Nicklaus stayed and signed what seemed like a million autographs. The Hauser’s stuck around in the hopes of not only getting an autograph, but hopefully a photo with Nick’s namesake.

Jack did not disappoint. Not only did they get an autograph (signed on Tom’s tournament pass from the 1970 U.S. Open from Hazeltine, Jack posed for several pictures and engaged Tom in a 5 minute conversation about Tom’s son and Jack’s grandson, who is also named for the 18-time Major winner.

Even Jack was taken by the fact someone thought enough of him to name their son after him.

“It’s pretty neat,” said Nicklaus. “To tack N.I.C.K.L.A.U.S. on to a kid. My daughter did that with one of her kids. He’s the one in the NFL. The good thing is they can use Nick.” He joked.

While the Greats might have been the highlight, the full field event did not disappoint the fans that braved the elements. Two-time champion, Kenny Perry took what seemed to be a strangle hold of the tournament when he fired a 60… flirting with the magical 59 going into the last three holes. That 60 was a career low round for Perry and gave him a 5 shot lead over Glen Day heading into Sunday’s final round.

Day 3

While Perry entered round 3 at -18, those that have been around this event know his victory was not a foregone conclusion… even if the players themselves did not necessarily view it that way.

Minnesota native, Tom Lehman who finished T10 at -12 thought catching Perry would be impossible. “I didn’t think I had any chance to win. The way he plays with the lead, especially on this course, that suits his game so well, I didn’t think there was any chance I was going to get within 7 or 8 shots of him. I thought he would shoot 65 or 66, 25, 24 under, something like that and just win in a laugher.”

Wes Short, Jr. was not about to let Perry run away with it however. Short fired a final round 63 and at one point gotten within one shot of Perry on the back 9. “I was thinking I would have had to finish birdie/eagle, I thought, to have a chance, if I made the one (putt) on 16. But also maybe would have looked over and saw that somebody had caught up a bit.”

In the end, Perry birdied 16 and 18 to end at -21 and sealed a 3-stroke victory.

With Perry’s third victory at the 3M Championship, he became the first player to win the same event three times since Bernhard Langer won the Senior Open Championship and just the second player to win the 3M Championship three times: Hall of Famer Hale Irwin being the other.

Even with his two previous victories, Perry was “ecstatic” with his third. “I was very nervous today,” explained Perry. “It’s hard to go out with a 5 shot lead and be the hunted instead of the hunter. It felt kind of odd out there.” He continued, “I didn’t want to give it away. I didn’t want to play too aggressive. I didn’t want to play too safe… I knew if I played too safe somebody was going to catch me. I was able to struggle through it and get it done.”

Even though this was the last year the PGA TOUR Champions will compete at TPC Twin Cities, it won’t be the last time Perry tees it up in Minnesota. “I’ll be back. I’m going to play (next year at the 3M Open). I’m going to use my top 50 all-time money exemption, so you’ll see me back here,” Perry announced. “I hate that they’re going to change it for next year. It’s going to be so long next year I probably won’t even recognize it.”

That may not be the only thing that stays the same. Talk has already begun about the possibility of bringing the “Greats” back in some fashion: something even Nicklaus would be happy to see.

“Hollis has said he wants to try to work it out and see if he can make it happen.” When asked if he would make the trip, Jack smiled and said, “I sure hope so… if you’ll have me.”

If fans like Tom and Nick Hauser have anything to say about it, Jack will be back.

So while the 3M Championship had its last turn on the dance floor, the young guns will take their turn on the stage next July.