Steve Palmer's 3M Open final-round golf betting tips and predictions

Where to watch the 3M Open

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 7pm Sunday

Best bets

Tony Finau-Lee Hodges dual forecast
2pts 6-4 bet365

Nick Hardy to win the 5.55pm twoball
2pts 10-11 Betfair, Power

Tony Finau to win the 3M Open
1pt each-way 8-1 general

Tony Finau to win the 3M Open (8-1), Nelly Korda to win the Evian Championship (12-1), Padraig Harrington to win the Senior Open (7-4)
0.5pt each-way treble Coral, Ladbrokes

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Story so far

Lee Hodges has performed incredibly over the first three days of the 3M Open to reach 20 under par through 54 holes, forging a five-shot lead at TPC Twin Cities.

Hodges, who could be backed at a pre-tournament 80-1, is no bigger than 1-3 with 18 holes to play in Minnesota. The PGA Tour maiden, who has won once on the Korn Ferry Tour, is ranked 110th in the world.

Since the weather delay on Friday afternoon, a tight tournament has turned into a procession, as Hodges made five birdies on his return to the course to finish round two, followed by another seven in round three, with scores of 63, 64 and 66 leaving a decent field in his wake.

Defending champion, Tony Finau, is alone in third place, six shots behind. He has been the only big name to play well. A host of quality players missed the cut, including Sahith Theegala, Adam Hadwin, Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im, Sepp Straka, Gary Woodland and Ryan Fox.

3M Open leaderboard

-20 Lee Hodges
-15 JT Poston
-14 Tony Finau
-13 Aaron Baddeley
-12 Sam Ryder, Keith Mitchell, Billy Horschel, Kevin Streelman

Best odds for the 3M Open

1-3 L Hodges, 13-2 JT Poston, 8 T Finau, 50 K Mitchell, A Baddeley, 75 B Horschel, 80 K Streelman, 100 bar

3M Open final-round predictions

Perfect weather is forecast for the final day of the 3M Open, with sunny, calm skies, and temperatures peaking at 26C, and birdies should be freely available.

The final twoball of Lee Hodges and JT Poston, who is alone in second place, tees off at 6.35pm UK and Ireland time. Both men can be opposed, with Tony Finau looking the best value option in the outright market.

Hodges has played superbly up to this point, but getting over the line for your maiden PGA Tour title is rarely straightforward, and Sunday pressure will probably tighten the leader. He had missed three of his previous four cuts coming into this event, so had not arrived in a consistent run of form.

If Hodges gets the wobbles with a career-changing victory on the horizon, Finau should be in position to take advantage. It was at this time last year that Finau cruised past another faltering leader and 8-1 looks a juicy price about history repeating itself.

Finau teed up this week off the back of three months of mediocre form – he has been extremely quiet since winning the Mexico Open – but Minnesota has revived the giant Utahn. He was carefree when asked to explain his form dip in his pre-tournament media conference, saying: “It's a funny game we play.”

Finau's form has returned this week as suddenly as it disappeared. This is the one week of the year he spends fishing with his family – between rounds he hits the famous lakes of Minnesota – and this cheerful character will fancy his chances of reeling in Hodges.

TPC Twin Cities is clearly a layout of which Finau has great affection. He was third in the 2020 3M Open and won by three shots last year, despite starting the final round five shots behind runaway leader Scott Piercy.

Finau won last year from a share of third place going into Sunday – hunting from the penultimate threeball on the tee – and the six-time PGA Tour champion will be sensing another opportunity.

Each-way terms of a quarter the odds, the first two, make Finau of interest each-way, while the Hodges-Finau dual forecast also appeals at 6-4.Nick Hardy, nicely settled on the PGA Tour and an Illinois man who enjoys competing in the American Midwest, looks the pick of the final-round twoballs at a shade of odds-on to defeat Tyler Duncan (5.55pm UK and Ireland).

Punters seeking action on all three of today's events are pointed towards a Finau, Nelly Korda, Padraig Harrington each-way treble.

Korda, teeing off in France at 11.05am UK and Ireland time, is well placed to take advantage of any slip-up from the pacesetting Celine Boutier in the Evian Championship, while links master Padraig Harrington has slowly but surely got himself in position to win a first Senior Open title in Royal Porthcawl.

The Finau, Korda, Harrington treble pays more than 320-1 with Coral and Ladbrokes (8-1, 12-1 and 7-4; fifth the three for the Evian Championship; quarter the three for the Senior Open).