2023 3M Open betting guide: Expert best bets and predictions for this week's PGA Tour event

It's getting down to crunch time on the PGA Tour, and golfers will be scrambling for crucial points then the 3M Open tees off Thursday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn. There is one more chance after this week to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, so the pressure will be on.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs have tightened from 125 PGA Tour players to the top 70. There are 27 players in the 2023 3M Open field who fall between No. 55 and No. 85 in the current FedEx Cup Standings, and 500 points will go to the winner. The PGA Tour regular season wraps up next week with the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. 

The most notable golfer outside the top 70 is two-time major winner Justin Thomas. The 2017 FedEx Cup champion hasn't had a victory since winning his second PGA Championship last season. He has just three top-10 finishes in 2022-23 and missed the cut at the Open Championship at 11 over par. It was his fourth missed cut in his past six outings, and he is 75th in the standings.

One player comfortably in the top 70 is Tony Finau, who won last year's 3M Open and won the following week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Finau is ninth in the FedEx Cup Standings and has two victories this season. He is the highest-ranked golfer in the 3M Open 2023 field at No. 16. Cameron Young, who tied for eighth last week at Royal Liverpool ranks 18th and Thomas is No. 20. The 3M Open 2023 field features 11 of the world's top golfers.

Among the other notable names are 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im and Sepp Straka, who tied for second at last week's major championship. There are 18 players making the trip back from the UK to compete this week.

This is the fifth edition of the 3M Open, with Cameron Champ (2021), Michael Thompson (2020) and Matthew Wolff (2019) also previous champions. The watered-down field following the PGA Tour season's final major could allow for another unexpected champion this week. 

Arnold Palmer's design company originally created TPC Twin Cities, and Minnesota native Tom Lehman, the 1996 Open Championship winner, was a consultant. Controlling the ball will again be the surest path to victory, with the tree-line fairways and water hazards penalizing wayward shots. The average winning score on the TPC Twin Cities layout is 18 under par.

In this 2023 3M Open betting guide, we'll take you through what you need to know about the rest of the field of competitors, the course itself and any projected weather considerations before diving into SportsLine's full slate of expert picks for the event. That includes outright winners with top longshot plays, as well as first-round leader, matchup and finishing position best bets. 

You'll also find our projected leaderboard, One and Done picks, DFS picks and Fantasy rankings from our stable of experts, including Mike McClure, Sia Nejad, Eric Cohen, Patrick McDonald and Jim Holliman.

• Mike McClure is a professional DFS player and SportsLine predictive data engineer, specializing in advanced statistical analysis. His golf proprietary model is up almost $10,000 on its best bets since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020, nailing tournament after tournament.
  
• Sia Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He's had incredible success in the outright and first-round leader markets. He also has been on fire on head-to-head matchups since the Charles Schwab Challenge, going 19-8-1 (+9.28 units) over that span.
• Eric Cohen is an avid golf bettor who correctly predicted the winner of three of the past four majors and nailed Scottie Scheffler's first career victory in Phoenix last year. He is a regular guest on "The Early Wedge" SportsLine golf show on YouTube.
• Patrick McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in 2022 and still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour. He was up almost 17 units this season before the Masters -- a haul of nearly $1,700 for $100 bettors -- and now he's back to cash more tickets for SportsLine readers.
• Jim Holliman is a longtime writer and editor who has played the game for nearly three decades, and he has a strong feel for how the players fit each course. He has nailed four winners since the Masters and has a knack for finding longshots who can contend and help fantasy players, including Tom Kim (75-1), who tied for the runner-up spot last week.    

2023 3M Open full picks: Model | Fantasy | DFS | Nejad | McDonald | One and done

So, which players are our experts backing in fantasy golf and betting for the 2023 3M Open? Who should you be counting on to cash in on outrights, head-to-head matchups and finishing-position wagers? ... Join SportsLine right now to see the best bets and analysis from SportsLine's top experts for the 2023 3M Open!