BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — Thorbjorn Olesen worked out of trouble more than once Friday at the TPC Twin Cities to take a one-stroke lead over Jake Knapp into the weekend in the 3M Open.
Olesen followed an opening 9-under 62 on Thursday with a 66, hitting out of the rough to set up a 5-foot birdie putt on his final hole — the par-4 ninth. The 35-year-old Danish player also recovered from a double bogey on the par-4 15th with consecutive birdies as he searches for his first PGA Tour victory.
“I think both days, my iron play has been really, really good,” Olesen said. “I hit a lot of shots really close to the pin and gave myself a lot of good chances. Today, there was like two or three bad drives that costed me, but I still felt pretty good over the ball.”
He had a 14-under 128 total.
Knapp shot 65. Pierceson Coody (65) was another stroke back with Sam Stevens (68). Stevens closed with a bogey on No. 9. Takumi Kanaya (64), Chris Kirk (67) and Matti Schmid (68) were 11 under.
With two weeks left in the regular season, Knapp (55th in the FedEx Cup standings), Schmid (68th) and Kirk (77th) remained in contention for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 70 advance to the first playoff event.
Olesen is a European tour regular with nine international victories. He missed the cut last week in the British Open in Northern Ireland.
“I take every week as it comes,” Olesen said. “Every week is an opportunity to try and bounce back and do something special."
Knapp remained bogey-free through 36 holes for the first time in his career, starting out with birdies on Nos. 10-12. He seeks his first PGA Tour win of the season after earning the first of his career in the 2024 Mexico Open.
“I feel like it’s been ... kind of mistake-free for the most part,” Knapp said. “I haven’t really had to scramble too much.”
Knapp had the lowest score on the PGA Tour this year, a 59 at the Cognizant Classic in February.
Adam Svensson nearly matched Knapp with a course-record 11-under 60 on Thursday, but dropped 29 spots Friday with a 75.
Missing the cut were Byeong Hun An, 67th in the FedEx Cup standings, and Haotong Li, who was in the final pairing with winner Scottie Scheffler in the British Open and tied for fourth.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Cameron Champ tees off on the seventh hole during the second round of the 3M Open golf tournament at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., Friday, July 25, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
Rickie Fowler lines up a putt on the third green during the second round of the 3M Open golf tournament at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., Friday, July 25, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
Thorbjorn Olesen, of Denmark, tees off on the sixth hole during the second round of the 3M Open golf tournament at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., Friday, July 25, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Galileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
