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BLAINE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota native Tom Lehman fired a second-consecutive under-par score Friday at the 3M Open to finish solidly inside the cut line – and on the fringes of contention – at a course he redesigned last year.
Lehman, 60, spends most of his time on the PGA Tour Champions, winning an event in Hawaii earlier this year. But his four-under 67 in the first round was the lowest competitive score he's shot since February.
With his youngest son, Sean, caddying for him again Friday, Lehman followed it up with a two-under 69 and is tied for 32nd. The two walked arm-in-arm off the first tee Friday, and crowds following them shouted "Go Tom!" when the pair passed by.
"It is so typical of Minnesota. That's what we love about it," said Lehman's wife, Melissa, as she watched on the second hole Friday. "I'm not from here originally. I've fallen in love with this state."
TPC Twin Cities played host to the PGA Tour Champions for more than a decade. When the course was awarded a PGA Tour event for 2019, Lehman's redesign toughened the layout.
Through two days, it's yielded low scores to the world's best players.
Bryson DeChambeau, a five-time tour winner, shot a nine-under 62 to grab the lead. Speaking to reporters after the round, DeChambeau said he started the week thinking 14-under par would win.
Halfway to the finish line, he's already at that number.
"Certainly me doing that today inspires me to even do better over the weekend," DeChambeau said. "I know that I can do it. I know I left a couple out there. I lipped out a couple short putts."
The scores weren't all low: Crowd favorite Phil Mickelson struggled again Friday and will miss the cut by several shots. Brooks Koepka, the PGA champion and top-ranked player in the world, was right on the cut line Friday afternoon.
Koepka was critical of the conditions at TPC Twin Cities on Thursday, saying the course had "a lot of ball marks and lots of divots" because of too much play.
No players followed Koepka's comments Friday. Charles Howell III, who played with DeChambeau and was eight-under and just outside the top 10, said the course was "awesome."
"It's fantastic," he said. "We had heard some things about it. Clearly, all those things were before they redid it, narrowed the fairways up, and added some length to it. It's a wonderful event, just like last week (the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit). The two new events have just been fantastic."