How Hollis Cavner Got The PGA Tour Back To Minnesota

The Star Tribune’s Jim Souhan does a wonderful job highlighting the career and efforts of Hollis Cavner, the well-liked longtime tournament director who built the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship into this week’s new PGA Tour event, the 3M Open.

Besides detailing how the TPC Twin Cities has evolved from the first time he showed it to Arnold Palmer, the story largely centers around Cavner and his team’s effort to bring the PGA Tour to Minnesota via his Pro Links Sports.

Cavner ran senior or Champions Tour events in Minnesota through last year, while constantly working to land a PGA Tour stop for Minnesota.

“That actually started back in the ’90s,” he said. “With Arnold and everybody else we worked with, when we were building the TPC we always laid it out for a PGA Tour event. We didn’t need all of this room for a Champions Tour event.”

That spaciousness will come in handy this week. For the last few years of the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship, Cavner didn’t charge admission. For the 3M Open, he has recruited a remarkably strong field and the Zac Brown Band to draw paying audiences to Blaine.

Cavner did so with relentless networking and old-fashioned hospitality. He played host to decision-makers and celebrities at his home in Augusta, Ga., during the Masters, and leaned on his reputation as someone who treats players well at his tournaments.

The field is headlined by Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil MIckelson.