Little-known Hodges sets tourney record in wire-to-wire 3M Open win
Lee Hodges' first PGA Tour victory Sunday at the 3M Open earned him tournament exemptions through 2025, a $1.4 million check, FedExCup and Ryder Cup points and invitations to next season's Masters, PGA and The Players championships as well as the winners-only event in Maui.
Oh, and a chocolate milkshake, too.
His college coach, agent and friends from back home in Alabama flew in unannounced Sunday to see Hodges become the first wire-to-wire winner in 3M Open history.
He shot 63-64-66-67 to beat second-place finishers J.T. Poston, Kevin Streelman and Martin Laird by seven shots each.
Hodges' 24-under-par 260 score set a tournament scoring record, three fewer than Matthew Wolff's 21-under 263 in the inaugural 2019 3M Open.
Hodges won in his 65th career start, at 28 years old, with the tournament's largest margin of victory and the largest on the PGA Tour since 2019.
"It was a dream week, start to finish," Hodges said. "My caddie told me on 18 that we get to play Augusta next year. That's the coolest thing I heard all day."
Hodges started Sunday with a five-shot lead, let it dwindle to three shots with three holes left and walked away the winner with a tap-in birdie at the par-5 18th hole when playing partner Poston made 8 there.
Afterward, Hodges was presented a crystal trophy and a milkshake handed to him by University of Alabama coach Jay Seawell.
"I usually get strawberry, but I guess they only had chocolate," Hodges said. "That's our Alabama thing. Anytime we won, he would take us to get milkshakes. That he was here and brought me a milkshake, that's something I'll remember forever."
Hodges was mobbed afterward by supporters from tiny Ardmore, Ala., and elsewhere. One buddy yelled, "We still have a teller position at the bank open."
Hodges' father is a banker in Ardmore, population 1,301.
"The guy who yelled that is a banker, too," Hodges said. "He was giving me a hard time. I was never going to work at the bank."
The state border runs through the northern Alabama town. His fans there could have celebrated Sunday night with two feet in two states. Maybe they did.
"The north side is Tennessee and the south side is Alabama," he said. "My step-grandfather is mayor of Ardmore, Alabama. There's two mayors, one for each side."
Alabama-Birmingham recruited Hodges out of high school. Seawell didn't. Hodges transferred to Tuscaloosa after his sophomore season. "My wife called me dumb," Seawell said. "I wasn't dumb the second time."
Hodges turned pro in 2018. He last won at the Portland Open on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.
On Sunday, he countered a bogey on each nine by making two eagles — at the par-5 5th and 12th — in the same way. Both were 257-yard shots. Both were "little" 3-wood shots that he held up against a breeze.
"Seems like it's one of those things that happens when you win," Hodges said.
All day he was as unflappable as he is off the course, except maybe for when Alabama football loses.
"I live and die by the Crimson Tide," Hodges said. "Sometimes I wish I didn't."
Poston was Hodges' nearest challenger on a day when nobody else made a real run. Both came to the 18th with Hodges still holding the three-shot lead. Poston's drive settled on a downslope, two feet from the water. He attempted a long, difficult second shot that bounded off the boulders fronting the green and went in the water.
"I knew with the finish on this course, anything can happen," Poston said. "There's birdies and bogeys and doubles and triples. We're not coming here to finish second. I wouldn't want to be sleeping tonight wondering 'what if I had just laid up.' No regrets."
Defending champ Tony Finau made one birdie Sunday, shot a 1-under 70 and tied for seventh. Beau Hossler made eight consecutive birdies and 10 overall while shooting a 3M Open record-tying 62, but he did so starting five hours before the leaders. He tied for 13th, 11 shots behind.
"I have no shot of winning, I promise you that," Hossler said. "Usually, you shoot that number on Sunday and you have a chance to win."
