Scott Piercy took last week off and it paid off in the first round of the inaugural 3M Open.
The 40-year-old Piercy, who has won four times on the PGA Tour, birdied six of his last nine holes and carded a bogey-free, 9-under-par 62 to take a two-stroke lead over Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Adam Hadwin of Canada at TPC Twin Cities https://tpc.com/twincities in Blaine, Minn.
“I really wanted to play last week,” said Piercy, who skipped the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club “It’s just I had played seven of nine weeks, and I was exhausted. I needed a couple of weeks off. I didn’t even touch a club until Friday. Then I put in a few hours to kind of get the rust off.
“I just made those midrange putts. Those 10-footers and 15-footers. Just made a few of those and it really helped things go. … I was thinking 5 under would be nice. You always get one guy or two guys that go really low. I just happened to be that guy today.”
Matsuyama played flawlessly until making his only bogey on the 18th hole in a 64, which Hadwin matched when he reeled off four birdies on a row while through No. 7 while finishing on the front nine.
Arjun Atwal of India closed out a 65 by holing his second shot from 130 yards for an eagle on the 18th hole and is tied for fourth with Brian Harman, Patton Kizzire, Sam Saunders and Sungjae Im of South Korea.
Eighth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis carded a bogey-free 66 and is tied for ninth with Cameron Tringale of Laguna Nigel, Tony Finau, Sam Burns, Brendan Steele of Idyllwild and UC Riverside, Ryan Armour, Denny McCarthy, Wyndham Clark and Dylan Fritelli of South Africa.
Top-ranked Brooks Koepka is tied for 18th after a 67, Jason Day of Australia shot 69 and is tied for 49th, and Phil Mickelson struggled to a 74, hitting four balls into the water, and is tied for 133rd.
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