Cameron Champ fends off heat to win 3M Open by 2 strokes, Canadian Hadwin 6th
26-year-old Champ had 5 birdies in bogey-free round to finish 15-under 269
Cameron Champ fended off dehydration and crisply putted his way to a 5-under 66 on Sunday, winning the 3M Open by two strokes for his third career victory.
Adam Hadwin from Abbotsford, B.C. finished in a five-way tie for sixth, with Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C. finishing 16th in a nine-way tie.
The 26-year-old Champ had five birdies in a bogey-free round to finish at 15-under 269 at TPC Twin Cities. Louis Oosthuizen, Jhonattan Vegas and Charl Schwartzel tied for second.
Playing six pairs ahead of Champ, Oosthuizen birdied three of the last four holes to give himself an outside chance. His approach to the 18th green almost yielded an eagle on the PGA Tour's hardest par-5 hole, but the ball lipped out. He made a 2 1/2 foot putt for birdie instead. Schwartzel, his fellow South African, posted a 68 to match Vegas in the final round.
During another above 30 degrees day, Champ was far from his physical best. He felt some dizziness along the back nine, putting his hands on his knees at one point as he hung his head to try to regain some composure. He had plenty of it on the last hole, after his safe strategy with the tee shot to stay away from the lake landed way left in a trampled, sandy area directly behind a clump of trees.
The Texas A&M product won the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2019, the year he turned pro, and the Safeway Open in 2020. He missed the cut in his last two majors this season and hadn't had a top-10 finish since tying for eighth in October in the Zozo Championship in California.
Champ entered the week in 142nd place in the FedEx Cup standings, getting a big bump with three events to go before the playoffs.
Cameron Tringale, a one-stroke leader after the third round, took a triple bogey on the par-3 13th hole right after consecutive birdies had brought him back into contention. He shot 74 and finished six strokes behind Champ.
