Find Me a 100 Winner: Cink can build on Hoylake success

• Thompson and Wu just miss out

• Four fancied at triple-figure prices

• Read my 3M Open preview here

One of last week's selections in the Open Championship, 230.0229/1 chance, Nicolai Hojgaard, was matched at a low of 25.024/1 after he'd played his first seven holes on Saturday in four-under-par to get to within five of the eventual winner and runaway leader, Brian Harman, but he bogeyed the next two holes and that was the end of that.

Harman was a mildly irritating winner as he'd been a selection for the column a couple of times recently - at 200.0199/1 in the Genesis invitational and 130.0129/1 in the Wells Fargo Championship - and he ticked plenty of boxes but I'd just about lost faith in him given he hadn't won in six years.

There's no DP World Tour event this week so we only have the 3M Open to look at, but it's been a great event for outsiders.

The well-fancied Tony Finau took the title 12 months ago, but the first three editions were all won by longshots - Matthew Wolff in 2019 at 220.0219/1, Michael Thompson 230.0229/1 in 2020 and Cameron Champ at 120.0119/1 two years ago.

I quite like 140.0139/1 shots, Davis Thompson, and Brandon Wu, but I like a number of outsiders this week and they've not made the final cut.

Sitting 72^nd in the FedEx Cup Standings, Thompson needs a decent week or two to get into the field at the FedEx St Jude (the first playoff event for the top-70 in the rankings) and he has form at the Rocket Mortgage Classic (the event that appears to correlate best with this event).

Thompson only finished 58^th there on debut two years ago but he led after round one and having missed the event last year, he finished 24^th three weeks ago, improving his score day-by-day with rounds of 70, 69, 68 and 67.

When researching this year's renewal, I couldn't help but notice that the last two winners, Champ and Finau, both have form at the Mexico Open...

We've only had two renewals of that event, but Finau has finished second and first and Champ eighth and sixth. Whether that's enough to suggest the two events correlate or not is debatable but of it does, Wu's a big contender here on the strength of his second and third places finishes south of the border.

I've had a small wager on each of those two but my four picks for the column are Lee Hodges, Troy Merritt, Stewart Cink, and James Hahn...

Look to Lee to contend

Ranking 72^nd in the FedEx Cup standings, like Thompson, Hodges is on the bubble with regards to playoff qualification and there are numerous other reasons to think he'll fare well here.

Although he missed the cut in the Rocket Mortgage Classic this year and he faded to 44^th last year, he sat third at halfway when playing the event for the first time last year and he also finished 16^th here 12 months ago on debut.

With recent top-12 finishes at the Memorial Tournament and the Scottish Open and with some very strong approach figures, he's a strong contender.

Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1

It's time to take the big price about Troy

Troy Merritt has course form figures reading 7-MC-39-49 and he has form at the Rocket Mortgage Classic reading MC-8-2-14-17 suggesting this is a perfect fit for the 37-year-old two-time PGA Tour winner, but it might not be the courses that Troy likes, it might just be the time of the year that they're both played.

Troy won his first title - the Quicken Loans National - on August 2, 2015, and his second - the Barbasol Championship - on July 23 2018, and he was beaten in a protracted playoff at the RMC on July 4 two years ago.

He followed his 17^th at the RMC with a 17^th place finish at the John Deere Classic and although he only finished 50^th in the Barracuda Championship last week, there were signs he may be ready to contend again given he played his first 12 holes on Thursday in six-under-par.

Is the time right for Troy to win again?

Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1

Cink can build on Hoylake success

As highlighted in the preview, I wasn't in a rush to side with anyone that contended at Hoylake last week but I'm more than happy to make an exception with Stewart Cink who has a record of playing well the week after a major championship.

The 50-year-old veteran, who now balances his playing time between the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour, finished tied for 23^rd last week with his wife on the bag and I fancy he could be a factor this week too.

His course form figures read 46-MC-24 but he was sitting 13^th after three rounds last year and while his Rocket Mortgage Classic form figures don't look great, reading 70-57, he has played well there.

He sat fourth after an opening 65 on debut in 2019 and fourth at halfway last year.

Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1

Hahn an obvious pick

And finally, James Hahn caught the eye last week when finishing sixth in the Barracuda Championship and he was fourth in this event 12 months ago so I'm struggling to see why he's been allowed to drift to bigger than 300.0299/1.

Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.01/1

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter