The 3M Open 2026 PGA DFS Picks At TPC Twin Cities

After a links major, the 3M Open is a full reset. This is a birdie-fest at TPC Twin Cities up in Minnesota, a fair par-71 test where 20-under or better could win, and the DraftKings board is stacked with names but short on locks. These are our 3M Open DFS picks for the PGA DFS week, straight off this week's Stokastic PGA Strategy Show, where Ben Rasa walked the entire field. His read is the thread of the whole slate: with one enormous price tag at the top and a wide-open middle, structure beats chasing a single golfer, and we will end on the balanced build that read points to.

For the projections board updated through lock, see our PGA DFS Picks hub. For the fundamentals of salary, stacking, and ownership in golf DFS, the PGA DFS strategy guide covers the construction rules this piece assumes.

In Summary

• TPC Twin Cities Is A Scoring Track, Not A Bomber's Course. It rewards birdies and ball-strikers who can go low; bogey avoidance and raw distance are not the separators, so the fit read is "who can shoot 20-under," not "who hits it 330."
• Scottie Scheffler ($14,900) Is A Build, Not A Lock. He is far and away the favorite yet still a longshot to win at plus-money, and his price is $5,000 clear of the next tier. Rostering him is a "pay up and deal with the rest" decision, not a default.
• Max Homa And Emiliano Grillo Are The Plays To Build Around. Homa has a synced-up game trending up in every category; Grillo ($7,300) is a definite play at a course that fits his ball-striking eye.
• Pierceson Coody And Taylor Pendrith Headline The Mid-Range. Coody was third here last year and is the top name in his range; Pendrith ($7,400) is a reliable off-the-tee buy at the price.
• Value Runs Deep: Takumi Kanaya ($6,700) is the deep-flyer dark horse, Aaron Wise ($6,600) and Denny McCarthy are strong cheap builders, and Michael Brennan brings a boom off-the-tee profile.
• Ownership Will Be Dispersed, so a few percent on the right play gets you over the field, and the balanced build is the cleanest way to attack the slate.

Watch The Video

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Ben Rasa breaks down every salary tier, the live ownership picture, and builds the lineups through the Stokastic single-lineup simulator for the 3M Open in the show above.

The Course: TPC Twin Cities Is A Birdie-Fest

Start with what the course asks for, because it shapes every roster decision that follows. TPC Twin Cities is a par 71 at roughly 7,300 yards, and it does not require a ton of overthinking. It is a fair test with a couple of reachable par-5s to attack, and barring wild weather (none is in the forecast), the field should score. You are going to need to go low here, and 20-under or better could win.

That points the fit read in a clear direction. Birdie-or-better percentage matters more than bogey avoidance, and scrambling matters because getting up-and-down for birdie on a par-5 is real points. What it is not is a pure bomber's course. When you look at last year's board, a lot of guys who could really drive it finished at the top, but that is a coincidence of who was hot, not a demand of the layout. You do not have to be long to win here, which is exactly why the middle of this board is so playable.

That distinction is the reason the value tier below is so rich, and it is a thread we will come back to when we build.

The Top Of The Board: Scheffler Is A Price Tag, Not A Default

Most builds begin here, and this week the top is a single decision. Scottie Scheffler is $14,900, which is $5,000 more than the next names down in Maverick McNealy and Kurt Kitayama at roughly $9,900. He is of course the favorite, and in a field this thin at the top he is far and away the best player. But he is still a longshot to actually win the tournament at around plus-250 to plus-300, and that price is steep enough that it destroys the rest of your lineup.

Golfer	Salary	The Read
Scottie Scheffler	$14,900	The clear favorite, but a plus-money longshot to win and a price that forces cheap fills everywhere else
Maverick McNealy	$9,900	A solid, well-rounded name near the top; sign me up if he lands in a lineup
Kurt Kitayama	$9,900	Getting too big a bump for course-history win equity; a pass at the number
Keith Mitchell	mid	Automatic off the tee and had gained in three straight before an all-putting missed cut at the Open; fine up top

Scheffler at that tag is the tell for the whole week. Rostering him means "I have the winner and I will deal with the rest," and every Scheffler lineup ends up looking alike because you are scraping the cheap tier to afford him. The one name in this range to actively pass on is Kitayama, who is getting a course-history bump that his current form does not back up. Keith Mitchell, on the other hand, is a comfortable top-of-lineup piece: he is automatic off the tee, and his Open missed cut was all putting on greens he did not like, not a ball-striking problem.

The Plays: Max Homa And Emiliano Grillo Lead The Build

Below the studs is where this slate is won, and two names sit at the center of it.

Max Homa is one of the favorite plays of the week, and it is a form call more than a price call. His game is synced up: he has gained off the tee in four of five and gained with the irons in four of five, he was a runner-up at the John Deere Classic and top-20 in Canada, and he has played TPC Twin Cities before. When a quality player is trending up like that, you do not need a discount to want him. Expect him to play really well.

Emiliano Grillo ($7,300) is the definite play. The 3M is his speed, and it shows in the recent form: 20th in Canada, 23rd at the US Open, and a top-30 at the John Deere. The one worry is the putter, which had lost strokes for six straight weeks before gaining in the last three, and the gains are coming more from the flat stick than the irons. But here is the thing about Grillo: he is a great ball-striker, and an elite tee-to-green player catching a hot putting stretch is a far more repeatable bet than a poor putter suddenly striking it well. This course should fit his eye, so the opportunity cost of playing him is tiny.

The core read: on a scoring track like this, back the ball-strikers whose games are already trending up (Homa, Grillo) over the names living on one hot week — the profile that repeats is the one that pays off in a six-man lineup.

Pierceson Coody is the best name in the next range. He was third here at the 3M last year, gaining across the board, and he represented himself well in the majors this season with a made cut at the US Open. He is reliable off the tee with a game in good shape and a course fit that already has a result attached to it. His ownership has not matured yet, but it likely climbs as we get to lock, so getting there early is the edge.

Sungjae Im rounds out this band. He came in 28th at the Open, but that finish undersells how long he was in the mix, and a sixth at the John Deere is closer to his true speed. He is gaining with the irons and the putter, gaining basically everywhere, and while he sits behind Coody and Homa in the pecking order, he makes a lot of sense here.

The Mid-Range: Reliable Off-the-Tee Buys

The next tier is where a balanced build fills out, and it is stacked with names that fit a scoring track. These are the profiles you can pair without over-thinking exposure.

Golfer	Salary	The Read
Taylor Pendrith	$7,400	Reliable off the tee and a runner-up at ISCO where he gained in all four categories; the price is right
Jackson Koivun	$9,200	A super-talented young Auburn product, 10th at ISCO; interesting as a first or second man in, not a must-start
Corey Conners	mid	Made the cut and finished 14th last week with the irons back in business; a quick, easy include
Ben James	$8,000	A UVA product with real pop: fourth at Corales, 15th at ISCO, 23rd at the US Open; around 14% projected
Tony Finau	mid	Diminished form but always reliable off the tee if that is the skill set you want
William Mouw	mid	Ball-striking and approach numbers are there; was seventh here last year, though a lot of that was putting

Taylor Pendrith ($7,400) is the buy in this group. When it is good for Pendrith it is very good, and his runner-up at ISCO was not a putting mirage; he gained in all four categories to get there. Add in the reliability off the tee and reps here at the 3M, and the price is right for a golfer you do not have to over-allocate to. Jackson Koivun ($9,200) is the higher-ceiling swing: a genuinely talented young player with the full skill set, and while the lean is not to start with him, he is a name to get to as a first or second man in. William Mouw carries the same course-history caveat worth flagging: his seventh here last year is a real tag, but it was putting-driven, so treat it as a reason to consider him, not a reason to hammer.

The Value Tier: Where The Slate Opens Up

Because TPC Twin Cities is a scoring track and not a bomber's course, the cheap end of this board is unusually deep, exactly as promised up top. This is where dispersed ownership turns a few percent into real leverage.

Golfer	Salary	The Read
Denny McCarthy	$7,100	If it becomes a putting competition, he is on the short list of the best putters in the world; keep it out of trouble and he is fine
Michael Brennan	mid	A beast off the tee with distance for days; four straight made cuts, two of them majors, and a putter that could flip him into a monster
Takumi Kanaya	$6,700	The deep-flyer dark horse: non-competitive irons but an electric putter and a great short game, and he was seventh here last year
Aaron Wise	$6,600	Back in business after time away, third at ISCO and 15th at Corales; where I would go if I need a cheap piece
Jesper Svensson	$7,200	Great off the tee with five straight positive weeks; a big step up in course fit from the Open at 14th here last year

The one to circle in this tier is Takumi Kanaya ($6,700), a Ben Rasa special as a deep flyer. His profile is lopsided, he loses strokes with the irons literally every week, but his short game is very good and his putter can be electric, and this course sets up for exactly that skill set. He came in seventh here last year, and at this price there is almost no pain in getting to 6-to-10% of him and being well over the field. Michael Brennan is the boom bet: he is automatic off the tee with real distance, he has made four straight cuts (two of them the Open and US Open), and if the putter ever syncs up he turns into a Cameron Champ-style problem. Denny McCarthy is the safety valve; if this turns into the putting contest a birdie-fest can become, he is on the short list of players anywhere you would want.

Where The Leverage Lives

The non-obvious edge this week is knowing which names to be underweight. Scheffler on price and Kitayama on course history are the two artificial bumps; the field will gravitate to both, so getting different from them costs you almost nothing. Our PGA DFS ownership projections show exactly which values the field is sleeping on before lock.

That is the payoff of the course read from the top of this piece. Because you do not have to be long to contend at TPC Twin Cities, the mid-range and value tiers are full of real players rather than punts, so a balanced roster of them is naturally unique in a field that keeps chasing Scheffler. Pull the full projections, ownership, and leverage board on the Stokastic PGA DataHub before lock; if you are new to the tool, the Stokastic PGA Sims guide walks through reading it end to end.

Worked Example: Two Builds From The Stokastic Sims

On the show, the lineups went through the Stokastic single-lineup simulator, each seeded by hand and then completed with a touch of randomness so the tool does the heavy lifting. The two paths below are the whole decision this slate offers.

Build	Core	Shape
Pay-Up (Scheffler)	Scheffler seeded, then Aaron Wise and Takumi Kanaya, filled with Keita Nakajima, Brian Harman, and Zac Blair	Forced-cheap; every Scheffler lineup looks alike
Balanced (Preferred)	Jackson Koivun seeded, spread across Grillo, Ben James, Michael Brennan, and Corey Conners	Five balanced pieces, no bottom-tier bodies

The Pay-Up build: seed Scheffler at $14,900 and you have about $7,000 left for five golfers, so the simulator has no choice but to scrape the cheap tier. Seeding Aaron Wise and Takumi Kanaya first and adding 15% randomness, it completed with Keita Nakajima, Brian Harman, and Zac Blair. That is the honest reality of the pay-up path: you are saying "I have the winner and I will deal with the rest," and you should not read too much into the exact fills.

The Balanced build: this is the preferred shape. Seeding Jackson Koivun at $9,200 and letting the tool spread the rest produced a five-balanced roster with no bottom-tier bodies, the kind of construction that fits a wide-open scoring track. The first pass graded slightly under water and left money on the table, so the move is to bounce a name, re-run, and tighten the salary rather than lock the first result. That is the entire point of the single-lineup simulator: seed a core you believe in, grade it, and hunt for a better shape around the edges instead of guessing.

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The throughline across both builds is the lesson Ben hammers: it is a six-man lineup, so you need a path. The pay-up path buys you the favorite and asks you to live with the fills; the balanced path spreads risk across course-fit golfers and gets unique for free in a dispersed-ownership field. Run your own core through the Sims, lean on the deep value this course creates, and pick the shape you want to attack the 3M Open with.

FAQ

Should I pay up for Scottie Scheffler or play a balanced 3M Open lineup? The balanced build is the preferred shape. Scottie Scheffler ($14,900) is the favorite, but his price forces cheap fills and makes every Scheffler lineup look alike, so pairing course-fit mid-range names built around Emiliano Grillo ($7,300) and Max Homa is the cleaner path in a wide-open field. The pay-up route is still viable in large-field tournaments if you want the winner and will live with the fills.

Who are the best value plays in 3M Open DFS? Takumi Kanaya ($6,700) is the deep-flyer standout thanks to an electric putter and a course that fits his short game, and Aaron Wise ($6,600) is a strong cheap builder back in form. Denny McCarthy ($7,100) is the putting-contest safety valve, and Michael Brennan brings a high-ceiling off-the-tee profile.

How does TPC Twin Cities change 3M Open DFS strategy? It is a fair par-71 birdie-fest where 20-under can win, so scoring and ball-striking matter more than raw distance. Because you do not have to be a bomber to contend, the mid-range and value tiers are full of legitimate players, which makes a balanced build the cleanest way to attack the slate.

Who should I leverage in tournaments this week? With ownership dispersed across a thin field, the leverage is structural: get underweight the artificial bumps on Scottie Scheffler's price and Kurt Kitayama's course history, and build a balanced roster of course-fit names the field is not stacking the same way. A few percent on the right value like Takumi Kanaya ($6,700) gives you separation in a giant field.

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