Golf best bets: Dougherty targets 2 long shots for the 3M Open

We're past the major championship portion of the 2024 schedule, but the PGA Tour keeps on rolling this week with the 3M Open from TPC Twin Cities. Most of the favorites in the field are flying back from Scotland and playing on short rest, so long shots should have a great chance to contend for a win this week. 

Let's target two higher-priced players with outright and finishing position bets for the 3M Open.

Pierceson Coody (+11000 FanDuel)

It took a while for Coody to find his groove in his first full-time season on the PGA Tour, but he's starting to play some impressive golf over the last few months. The Texas product has two top-five finishes in his last five starts. The last time we saw him he lost in a five-man playoff at the ISCO Championship.

TPC Twin Cities demands strong total driving and solid putting, and those just happen to be Coody's biggest strengths right now. The 24-year-old ranks third on the PGA Tour this season in strokes gained from putting and 12th in driving distance. He's also gained strokes from off the tee in four straight starts, as he's cleaned up his accuracy issues from earlier in the season.

The only issue here is Coody seemed to be nursing an injury in the final round of the ISCO Championship and pulled out of the Barracuda Championship last week. That's why his odds have ballooned to 110-1, but we'll buy the discount and hope he's healthy enough to compete.

Top-10 finish: +700; Top-20 finish: +330

Callum Tarren (+27000 FD)

With past winners such as Cameron Champ, Matthew Wolff and Tony Finau, we know TPC Twin Cities caters well to bombers. Well, Callum Tarren ranks 24th on Tour this season in driving distance and 18th in club head speed. Unlike Coody, he's a terrible putter, but not at this golf course. 

Tarren has lost strokes from putting in 15 of his 18 recorded starts this season, but he's gained strokes on the green in each of his two starts at the 3M Open. Those strong putting performances led to finishes of T7 and T13. Out of every player in the field this week, Tarren ranks fifth in true strokes gained per round (1.81). There's just something about this golf course and these Bentgrass greens that bring out the best in him. 

Tarren notched his second-best finish of the season two weeks ago with a T21 at the ISCO Championship, and now he's returning to one of his favorite courses. 

Top-10 finish: +1400; Top-20 finish: +600