Ben Warian dripped in a 19-foot birdie putt on the difficult ninth hole at TPC Twin Cities – his final hole of the day – and a gallery of 60-plus fans roared as Warian carded a 2-under round of 69.

Thursday’s first round of the 3M Open was a home game in every sense for the recent Gophers grad. Much of the gallery was garnished in maroon and gold, including Warian’s college teammates. Many others from the local community were in attendance to cheer on the Stillwater native and Hill-Murray alum.

“There was a lot of energy out there, for sure. Yeah, thankful for all the family and friends who came out to support,” Warian said. “Gosh, yeah, you name ’em, I guess they’re out here from my family and my friends. Yeah, it’s been very humbling and very cool to see everybody come out to support, that’s for sure.”

His father – John Warian – made his way over to seemingly every fan to thank them for taking the time to come out and support his son.

“I never thought there’d be this many people out here supporting him,” John said. “It’s amazing.”

Ben Warian certainly gave onlookers reasons to cheer Thursday. He went out in 5-under 31, capped by birdies on holes No. 17 and 18 to move the amateur into a tie for second.

His friends put their arms around one another to witness the birdie putt on No. 18, and erupted when the ball hit the bottom of the cup. Warian’s crowds continued to grow with each birdie

“It was pretty surreal,” said Warian’s friend, Will Frazier. “We’ve both seen it all the time. Like every time we play with him it’s like, ‘You’re such a good player. You belong here.’ But then to actually see him do it the first nine holes, I’m sure I was more nervous than he was on the first tee box, but man, was it fun.”

Excitement was palpable. And at the same time, even the ardent supporters seemed slightly stunned.

“It was just like ‘The golf gods are really being good to us right now,’” John said. “Our goal as a family is hoping that he makes the cut. And as you noticed, on the front nine it was a little bit different than that. And then we had two holes of reality.”

On No. 2, Warian hit his drive into the rough, but tried to be aggressive on his approach. He missed his mark and the shot went into the water, leading to a double bogey.

“That’s obviously just course management right there, just give myself a chance for par to get up and down, that would have been obviously a lot smarter,” Warian said.

“Honestly, it was kind of funny, because when you get into these moments, things start speeding up,” Frazier said. “I think right after he hit it he goes, ‘Ah, I should’ve laid up.’ And it’s easy to say, but it’s hard to be patient, man. You’re five-under in your first event, you’re sitting there in like second place with PGA Tour players, the last thing you want to do is lay up from like 150, right?”

Warian then double bogeyed No. 3 after another wayward drive and a tough three-putt. But he stabilized from there, recording five straight pars before ending his day with a birdie.

“Just makes me more proud, because he’s getting rewarded for everything he’s put into it,” John said. “A lot of players, when they have adversity like that twice in a row, they’ll throw in the towel. Ben didn’t. He clawed back, like he always has, and he came back and just played his heart out and did very well. Strong finish.”

Ben noted that final birdie “felt pretty good.”

“Birdies are always nice, and yeah, when they’re accompanied by a couple hundred people yelling as well it makes it that much more fun,” he noted.

That loud support wasn’t surprising given the stage – it’s not every day a local gets this type of opportunity. But the shear volume of fans spoke to Warian’s local popularity. That, friends say, is a product of who Ben Warian is.

“Growing up with him, he just wants to give, give, give,” said Warian’s friend, Brock Winter, “and see what he can help you do.”

For instance, Winter was ill on Wednesday night, and on the eve of his first PGA Tour start, Warian made a point to bring his friend some soup.

“That’s Ben Warian right there,” Frazier said.

Which is the same thing local golf fans will be saying as they watch throughout the weekend in Blaine should Warian continue the quality of play he displayed Thursday.

“I think certainly on those first nine holes, yeah, I proved a lot to myself,” Warian said. “I think it shows that, I mean, my good is certainly good enough, it’s just continuing to kind of tighten up the misses a little bit and yeah, clean a few things up.”

“Surprising that he played well? No, not at all,” Winter said. “I think his expectation is that he can win out here.”

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