08:05 - July 25, 2026 - Kim shots 59 to lead by three
Pre-event 80.079/1 chance, Ben Kohles, was trading at 6/17.00 on the Betfair Exchange after he'd posted a nine-under-par 62 to lead by two after round one of the 3M Open and he hit a low of just 3.5551/20 when he played his first five holes on Friday morning in three-under but he hit the skids after that.
Having started on the 10th, his birdie at the 14th hole was his last of the day and after a bogey at the par five sixth, he finished up posting a two-under-par 69 which as it transpired, was fully 10 strokes worse than the halfway leader, Michael Kim, shot on Friday morning.
This putt for 59 ...
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The world number one, Scottie Scheffler, was trading at less than 2/13.00 when he kicked off his second round, trailing the new leader, Kim, by eight strokes, and he's already been matched at as short as 2.1411/10 but after a disappointing second round of 70 yesterday afternoon, he now trails by seven strokes with 36 holes to play.
Here's the 36-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 7:55.
Michael Kim -14 3.412/5
Ben Kohles -11 9.617/2
Emiliano Grillo -11 11.521/2
Chandler Phillips -11 22.021/1
Jackson Koivun -10 11.010/1
Troy Merritt -10 60.059/1
Brian Harman -9 28.027/1
Zac Blair -9 38.037/1
Billy Horschel -9 46.045/1
Michael Brenan -8 48.047/1
Jesper Svensson -8 70.069/1
Denny McCarthy -8 85.084/1
Scottie Scheffler -7 8.415/2
Hideki Matsuyama -7 48.047/1
Gary Woodland -7 95.094/1
-7 and 100.099/1 bar
The only place to start is with the three-stroke leader, Kim, whose sole success to date on the PGA Tour was at the John Deere Classic back in 2018 where he ended up scooting home by eight strokes having led by three at halfway and by five through 54 holes.
That's the only time he's held a clear 36-hole lead, so he doesn't have any scar tissue to put doubts in his mind, and he has a recent win on the DP World Tour, in the Open de France last year, to give him confidence too.
Can Kim convert from the front again?
In the last 30 years, 104 men have led a PGA Tour event by three strokes and 36 of them went on to win. That's a strike rate of 34.6% suggesting Kim is a decent price at almost 5/23.50 on the Betfair Exchange but we do have at least three factors to consider that suggest he's not that great a price.
Although he's seven off the lead, the presence of the world's best player in a tie for 13th would be an obvious concern for Kim backers, as is the fact that it's highly unlikely that he can back up yesterday's super low round today, and we also need to consider how poor an event this has been for halfway leaders.
Lee Hodges, who was four clear at this stage (won by seven), is the only 36-hole leader to kick on and take the title and we've seen three winners come from some way back at this stage.
We've only had seven renewals but last year's winner, Kurt Kitayama, and the inaugural winner, Matthew Wolf, both trailed by eight at halfway, two winners have trailed by four and the 2022 winner, Tony Finau, was six back.
Kim's 24-footer on 18 yesterday morning was the longest final putt sunk to record a sub-60 round on the PGA Tour, beating the previous longest of 20 feet, by Brandt Sneker at the Wyndham Championship in 2018, and that was the last time someone shooting a sub 60 round on the PGA Tour went on to win the event.
Since then, we've seen five sub 60s and all five were shot by someone that didn't go on to win.
All things considered, Kim makes little appeal.
Long-shots backed at halfway
It's impossible to write off Scheffler but given the two key stats here have been Greens In Regulation and Strokes Gained: Approach and that at the halfway stage he ranks 23rd and 64th for those two metrics, I'm happy to leave him out too.
This looks a really tricky tournament to call given the previous in-running trends, but I have chanced two at big prices, starting with Troy Merritt, who sits tied for fifth and just four off the lead.
It's now eight years since the 40-year-old won the second of his two PGA Tour titles so he's been in the wilderness for a long time, but he ranks tied seventh for GIR and second for SG: Approach at halfway and he's a big price at 60.059/1.
Merritt clearly needs to putt better over the weekend given he ranks 21st for Putting Average and 50th for Strokes Gained but he's playing nicely tee-to-green.
Back Troy Merritt
My only other halfway pick is Austin Smotherman who sits alongside Scheffler in a tie for 13th.
The 32-year-old is yet to win on the PGA Tour, but he won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and at the halfway stage, after rounds of 68 and 67, he ranks second for GIR and third for SG: Approach so he's another that's clearly playing some nice golf.
He's a massive price if he can get a few more putts to drop.
Back Austin Smootherman