Helped by an Ace, Olesen Shares Lead at 3M Open with Bhatia

  BLAINE, Minn. – An ace during his third round Saturday helped Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen remain atop the field at the 2025 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, carding a 4-under 67 to grab a share of the 54-hole lead with Akshay Bhatia.

A crowded leaderboard awaits Olesen and Bhatia entering Sunday’s final round as the top 15 players are separated by just four shots.

“I'm not going to lie, there's going to be a lot of pressure, but I felt like in my career I've dealt with pretty well with pressure,” Olesen said, looking ahead to Sunday’s final round. “Obviously, the wins on the DP World Tour, but Ryder Cups also.

“It's going to be exciting. I'm happy to be in this position going into tomorrow. It's going to take a lot; there's a lot of guys up there. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of birdies. It will be difficult for sure.”

The 35-year-old Olesen played his first six holes in 1-under Sunday before knocking in his tee shot at the 209-yard seventh hole with a 6-iron for the fourth hole-in-one of his career to reach 16-under.

He’d card three more birdies against one bogey during his final nine holes to shoot 67.

“Winning is what we're trying to do every week,” he said. “Obviously, I haven't won over here, but it's a great opportunity and I'm going to try my best for sure.”

Olesen is searching for his first victory in his 13th season on Tour, and looks to become the first Dane to win a PGA Tour event. He has nine international wins and was a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team in 2018 at Le Golf National in Paris.

A winner of two PGA Tour events, Bhatia fired an 8-under 63 Saturday to move up seven spots on the leaderboard after back-to-back rounds of 66 to open the championship.

“Just a pretty solid round,” Bhatia said following the third round Saturday. “Felt like I did a pretty good job of playing out of the rough today. I didn't hit it particularly great off the tee, but thankfully greens are soft enough to where you can kind of do that.

“All in all, it's a great test. There's a lot of really, really good driving holes. The par-3s are really, really solid. Just gives you a lot of opportunity to make a lot of birdies, but you've also got to kind of play to spots, which I think is what makes a really good golf course.”

Starting his day four shots off the lead, Bhatia rolled in four birdies during his front nine Saturday to reach 14-under for the championship.

He’d card two early birdies to begin his back nine before taking his only bogey of the round at the par-3 13th.

The 23-year-old Bhatia would bounce back with three birdies over his final four holes, including a 12-footer at the last to finish 54 holes of play at 18-under 195.

Bhatia claimed his first Tour win in 2023 at the Barracuda Championship and followed it with a win at the Valero Texas Open in 2024, both in a playoff. He’ll look for his third win in as many seasons when the championship resumes Sunday.

“Obviously winning out here is very tough, there's so many guys within how many shots of the lead, so it would mean a lot," he said. "But again, I'm just trying to play solid golf and hopefully the cards fall my way tomorrow.”

Winner on the PGA Tour in 2023, Kurt Kitayama paced the field early during Saturday’s third round, tying Adam Svensson’s tournament record set during the opening round Thursday with an 11-under par 60 for the lowest round of his career.

He’ll begin the final round in a share of third with Jake Knapp, Takumi Kanaya and Sam Stevens at 17-under 196.

“Yesterday's round felt like I didn't have any control,” said Kitayama, who carded an even par 71 during Friday’s second round to begin the third round eight shots off the lead. “I hit some balls after and kind of worked through some things on the range. I felt like I found something that I could go with.

“And warming up today, felt pretty good and it kind of showed on the course. Happy I was able to find that. I feel like I'm hitting it straighter and just more comfortable pulling out driver on holes I would never have hit driver on and I think that's been the key.”

Knapp, who claimed the inaugural CRMC Championship on the PGA Tour Canada in 2022 at Cragun’s Legacy Courses before winning during his rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2024, rolled in a birdie from inside of 20 feet on his final hole to post a 4-under 67 Saturday.

“I think based on the kind wind direction, the pin locations we had, it was somewhat difficult to get it close to some of those pins,” Knapp said Saturday. “Misjudged the wind a couple times and didn't judge the lie correctly out of the rough once, but other than that I feel like I hit it pretty solid and did a really good job of staying patient all day.

“I felt like it was easy to start forcing it at some point and I really didn't, just kind of let the birdies happen and was able to get some to fall coming in.”

Sweden’s Alex Noren posted a 6-under 65 Saturday to earn a share of seventh place with Americans Chris Gotterup and Pierceson Coody, two shots back of the lead at 16-under 197.

The final round of the 2025 3M Open will begin at 6:25 a.m. at TPC Twin Cities.