BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — Thorbjorn Olesen aced the par-3 eighth and shot a 4-under 67 on Saturday in the 3M Open for a share of the third-round lead with Akshay Bhatia.
Olesen, the 35-year-old Danish player who led after the second round, used a 6-iron on the 209-yard eighth at the TPC Twin Cities.
“It was a back pin. It just felt like I couldn’t get there with a 7, so we went for a soft 6-iron,” Olesen said. “Obviously, took the slope perfectly, a big bonus to see it go in. It’s been a long time since I’ve had one.”
Bhatia had a 63 to post first at 18-under 195.
“I chipped in twice, made a lot of putts," Bhatia said. ”A lot of putts lipped in, which was really nice to see. All in all, just a pretty solid round. 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.”
Kurt Kitayama matched the tournament and course record with a 60, finishing before Olesen and Jake Knapp teed off in the final group, to get to 17 under. Fellow Japanese player Takumi Kanaya (65) also was 17 under with Knapp (67) and Sam Stevens (66).
Olesen followed the hole-in-one with a bogey on No. 9. On the back nine, he birdied Nos. 13-14, three-putted the 15th for bogey, birdied the short par-4 16th and parred the final two. The eight-time European tour winner is chasing first PGA Tour title.
“It’s obviously different and it’s a big opportunity," Olesen said. “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 pretty well with pressure. Obviously, the wins on the DP World Tour, but Ryder Cups, also.”
Bhatia, the 23-year-old California player with two PGA Tour victories, chipped in from 42 feet for birdie on the fifth and from 55 feet for another birdie on 11.
“I’m just trying to play solid golf and hopefully the cards fall my way tomorrow," Bhatia said.
Kitayama matched the tournament mark set by Adam Svensson in the first round. Paul Goydos also has a share of the course record, shooting 60 in the 2017 3M Championship on the PGA Tour Champions.
Kitayama had 12 birdies and a bogey. He played the front nine in 7-under 28.
“I was just kind of going out there,” Kitayama said. “I don’t think you really have a number going out into any round, just kind of take what you can get.”
Knapp dropped a stroke on the 17th for his lone bogey of the week
NCAA winner Michael La Sasso of Mississippi was tied for 16th at 13 under after a 63. The amateur missed the cut last week in the Barracuda Championship.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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.
The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. 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,” she said.
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.”
Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.
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, the ship was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
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 Gallileo, 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 Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit 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.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.
“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.
But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear 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.
Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
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 and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
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)
