In a few days, Alex Gaugert will be back in the middle of a fairway with a heavy tour bag in one hand and whatever club Erik van Rooyen hands back to him in the other. But over 36 dream-come-true holes this week at TPC Twin Cities, Gaugert and van Rooyen were not boss and caddie but early-round competitors on the PGA Tour.

An added bonus: the former Gophers teammates were paired together by tournament officials.

With rounds of 77-71, Gaugert’s week as a 3M Open Monday qualifier came to a close Friday afternoon. Van Rooyen also missed the cut, by one stroke, after he shot even-par 71 as well on Friday and finished at 3 under for the tournament. The cut line was 4 under.

Van Rooyen, a PGA Tour regular since 2020, struggled to keep his emotions in check when Friday’s round finished.

“When we were playing college together, this was what we were all talking about,” van Rooyen said. ‘Oh man, we’re gonna play the PGA TOUR together, we’re gonna room together, play practice rounds together.’ We get to share that a little bit with him on the bag, but with him playing a tournament, it was really, really cool.”

Their group teed off on No. 10 Friday morning. On the par-5 18th hole, Gaugert drained a 47-foot putt for eagle. Van Rooyen three-putted from 36 feet for bogey.

No hard feelings, right, Erik?

“His job’s safe,” van Rooyen smiled.

“This game’s beautiful. I’ll always remember that. It’s a sick shot he hit from over in the rough down there [to the green].”

They will next travel to North Carolina for the season-ending Wyndham Championship. Gaugert will be back on the bag, not making shots. But this week in Blaine will always be a career highlight.

“It was a dream,” Gaugert said. “It happened fast … you don’t get these special moments every single week. This game’s hard and it was — it’s cool to share that with my best friend, something I’ll never forget.”

The heat is on

When the temperatures go up, J.T. Poston’s scores go down.

Sitting at 10 under entering the weekend, Poston’s hot streak continues. In the months of June and July the past three PGA Tour seasons Poston has a win, a loss in a playoff, a runner-up, two sixth-place ties and a tie for 11th (last year’s 3M) among his accomplishments.

“It’s definitely a trend,” Poston said. “I’d rather play well at the end of the year than at the beginning and then kind of coast. I don’t know if it’s just the golf courses at the end of the year fit my eye a little bit better or I’m used to playing in the heat, but I’m trying to keep it going.”

Keeping it fresh

Forty-four-year-old Kevin Streelman said he still feels “compelled and called” to compete on Tour even though at one point in his career he guessed he’d play until age 45, then take some time off before joining the 50-and-over PGA Tour Champions.

“I brought that up to my wife and she’s like, you’d go crazy at home after two weeks sitting around,” he said.

Before flying to Minnesota for the 3M Open, Streelman spent last Sunday working with 3-D equipment — “a high-tech suit with all these flashing lights all over the place” — and found a flaw in his swing.

“I noticed my hips and my shoulders were pretty square to my target, but my rib cage was actually like 20 degrees open, something you couldn’t see with 2-D in video,” Streelman explained, adding it was a “drastic change.”

It worked. Streelman is tied with Poston at 10 under.

Etc.

Tom Hoge and Frankie Capan III made the weekend cut. Capan, of Stillwater, shot a second consecutive 68 and is tied for 22nd place. Locals Caleb VanArragon, Eric Rolland, Thomas Lehman, Troy Merritt and Derek Hitchner all missed the cut, though Lehman finished only 17 holes Friday.

Kelly Kraft withdrew from the tournament during the weather delay.