BLAINE, Minn. — Not only did world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler show up in Minnesota as scheduled, his putter finally showed up, too.

A week after ranking 144th in strokes gained putting at the British Open, where he tied for fourth, Scheffler and his resurgent putter shot a bogey-free 6-under 65 in Thursday morning’s opening round of the 3M Open at the TPC of the Twin Cities in Blaine.

“Fresh greens are a little bit easier than links greens,” said Scheffler, whose first competitive round in Minnesota left him tied for fifth, three shots back, heading into Friday. “Part of playing links golf is the ball’s not going to roll true every single time.

“I felt like I was just on the wrong end of that last week. Got here and made sure I was lined up where I thought it was and made sure I was hitting it on that line. That’s about it.”

Easy, peasy.

Three shots clear of the world’s best golfer is the planet’s 128th-best golfer, Ben Kohles. A winless 36-year-old journeyman, Kohles eagled the par-5 18th hole to with a 246-yard approach shot to 4 feet shoot a PGA Tour career-low 62.

Emiliano Grillo, Jackson Koivun and Gary Woodland each shot 64 while Lucas Glover, Michael Brennan and Kevin Roy joined Scheffler at 65.

Kohles shook his head when asked if he’d be peeking over his shoulder at Scheffler when his second round begins at 6:45 a.m. Friday.

“No, no. No,” he said. “I’m just trying to worry about myself. It’s like I’m not really worried about anyone else, it’s just kind of me versus the golf course and that’s all we’re kind of really focused on.”

Scheffler ended the first round second in strokes gained putting (3.447) and was third in feet of putts made (134-6).

“I would love for [a good day putting] to be that predictable,” he said. “I actually missed a short putt on the first. I had like maybe an 8-, 10-footer on the first hole, it didn’t go in but I hit it the way I wanted to.

“Yeah, golf’s funny. Some days you’re hitting your lines and the line seems to be tracking toward the hole and other days it feels like you’re doing the same thing and it kind of goes around the hole.

“But today was a day in which I was able to hole some nice putts and that’s why I was able to make some birdies out there.”

Large crowds of Minnesotans were treated to a crisp round of golf from the best golfer in the world. Scheffler hit 15 of 18 greens, made six birdie putts, including ones from 28, 16, 14, 13 and 10 feet, and avoided a three-putt.

Scheffler is only the fourth men’s world No. 1 to play in Minnesota since the rankings began in 1986. Ian Woosnam finished tied for 55th at the 1991 U.S. Open at Hazeltine. Tiger Woods finished second in the 2002 and 2009 PGA Championships at Hazeltine and Brooks Koepka finished 65th in the 3M Open debut in 2019.

Unlike Koepka, who seemed unfocused and uncaring in 2019, Scheffler was locked in Thursday and, actually, Wednesday as well when he shot a 5-under 31 on the front nine while playing his pro-am alongside Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell.

Scheffler was asked whether the large, enthusiastic crowds helped him on Thursday.

“I mean, not really,” he said, “but it’s more fun I would say playing in front of the big crowd than if there was nobody out there.

“It’s fun to get the support and to hear some cheers. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s motivating, but it’s definitely a lot of fun to play in front of people like that. It was a ton of fun. A really good crowd, especially for an early tee time.”

Scheffler started on the back nine and was only 1 under when he reached the 607-yard par-5 18th hole — one of the more entertaining risk-reward water holes on tour. His 289-yard drive hit the fairway and left him 277 yards to the hole.

“The wind was pretty much straight across,” he said. “It was a little bit in between clubs for us, so ended up just obviously taking more club because there’s water short. You really can get rewarded for hitting the fairway there, but that second shot can be daunting.”

Scheffler’s second shot left him in the left greenside rough, 73 feet from the hole. He chipped to 16 feet and then did something he didn’t do often enough in the season’s final major a week earlier.

Unlike Royal Birkdale, where Scheffler missed seven birdie putts inside of 15 feet in the second round alone, Scheffler made the 16 footer to begin a stretch of five birdies in his final 10 holes at a course and in a state in which he had never before played.

“It is a little different playing somewhere you haven’t played before,” he said. “My prep this week was a little shorter than it normally would have been on a new golf course. But I did a good job of giving myself some looks. And I holed some putts today.”

Kohles hopes to avoid another meltdown

Kohles, who splits time between the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, has played in 121 PGA Tour events. He’s made only 66 cuts and has just six top-10 finishes.

But ...

Three weeks ago at the John Deere Classic, he was tied for the lead with Chris Gotterup at 20 under heading to the final hole. He needed par for a playoff, birdie to win. He hit into the water, doubled the hole and carded a still-career-best tie for third.

“You know you’re playing well so it’s just about trying to get yourself back in those positions,” Kohles said Thursday. “Obviously didn’t [win] then. Not too worried about it.

“Of course, you would like the outcome to be different, but you’ve just got to keep putting the pedal down and see where you go.”

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