BRAINE, Minnesota – Thorbjorn Olesen escaped from trouble more than once on Friday at TPC Twin City, taking a one-stroke lead over the weekend with the 3M open.
Olesen chased opening 9-under 62 at 66 on Thursday, setting up a five-foot birdie putt on the final hole with a hit from the rough – par 4 ninth. The 35-year-old Danish player recovered with consecutive birdies from a double bogey on a par 4 15th day as he was searching for his first PGA Tour victory.
“I think my iron play was really, really good on both days,” Olesen said. “I hit a lot of shots that really close to the pin and gave myself many good chances. Today I had two or three bad drives that cost me, but I still felt that it was much better than the ball.”
He totaled 14 under 128.
Knapp Shot65. Pierceson Coody (65) was another stroke with Sam Stevens (68). Stevens closed on No. 9 with a bogey. Takumikanaya (64), Chris Kirk (67) and Matty Schmidt (68) were under the age of 11.
KNAPP (55th in the FedEx Cup), Schmid (68th) and Kirk (77th), who remained in the regular season, remained in the contest for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 70 will advance to the first playoff event.
Olesen is a regular on the European tour with nine international victories. He missed a cut at the British Open in Northern Ireland last week.
“I take it every week to make it come,” Olesen said. “Every week is an opportunity to bounce and do something special.”
Knapp is Nos. Starting with a 10-12 birdie, he remained bogeyless on 36 holes for the first time in his career. He is sought for the first PGA Tour victory of the season after winning the first career of his career at the 2024 Mexico Open.
“I feel like it was… mostly just like nothing wrong,” Knap said. “I really didn’t need to scramble.”
Knapp scored the lowest score on this year’s PGA Tour.
Adam Svensson roughly matched the course record 11-under 60 on Thursday, but dropped 29 spots at 75 on Friday.
Kat went missing in fourth tied with Bion Hun, who was 67th in the FedEx Cup standings, and Haotong Lee, who was ultimately paired with British Open winner Scotty Schaeffler.