Afternoon thunderstorms caused the start of the third round of the 2022 3M Open to be moved up, and with it came ideal scoring conditions for competitors. Without a breath of wind to speak of, accessible pin locations and a shortened scorecard yardage, numerous players took advantage of Moving Day at TPC Twin Cities. Unfortunately for the field, this included Scott Piercy, who commanded a three-stroke lead to begin the third round and stretched it to four after a round of 5-under 66.
The 43-year-old made par on his first two holes and then rattled off five consecutive birdies to reach 18 under, extending his lead to four strokes over Emiliano Grillo. Clearly in the midst of one of those weeks during which everything that can go right, does go right, the only thing that was able to stop Piercy was Mother Nature and a blister on the bottom of his foot.
The predicted thunderstorms came a bit earlier than imagined, and all players were pulled from the golf course as the final group was stepping foot onto the eighth hole. After six hours and 38 minutes, play finally resumed.
At one point reaching 19 under, a bogey on the last dropped Piercy back to 18 under, where he began the resumption of play. While he has seen his lead grow over Grillo, there are many worthy contenders still in the fight, including the pre-tournament favorite Tony Finau just five strokes back.
1. Scott Piercy (-18): The man who led after Thursday and Friday will lead after Saturday as well with a third round 5-under 66. To say this performance has come out of nowhere would be an understatement, as Piercy entered the 3M Open with only two top-20 finishes on the season and having missed four of his last six cuts.
Beginning the week outside the top 125 of the FedEx Cup Standings, Piercy will catapult himself inside the top 50 if he is able to hold on. It has been seven years since his last individual victory and nerves may have crept in during his 18th hole on Saturday as he dumped his approach into the water, ultimately leading to bogey. If those persist tomorrow, this tournament will turn into a completely different game.
2. Emiliano Grillo (-14)
T3. Doug Ghim and Tony Finau (-13)
5. Tom Hoge (-12)
T6. Sungjae Im and Greyson Sigg (-11)
Piercy's lead appears to be insurmountable, and while conventional wisdom suggests Grillo is the candidate to chase him down, Finau may be the wiser choice. Possessing plenty of firepower in his own right, the two-time winner on the PGA Tour has been incredible from tee to green over the first three days at TPC Twin Cities. Unfortunately, Finau has been unable to match this excellence on the greens. If he does so tomorrow, he should have a realistic opportunity to give Piercy a scare.
It feels like just yesterday that the PGA Tour was in Hawaii to kick off the 2021-22 season. In a blink of an eye, there are only two tournaments left after the completion of the 3M Open. Encapsulating the importance of a late season charge, Piercy is projected to move from 138th in the season-long race to 46th with a victory.
While Piercy may move himself into the second playoff event, others are hoping just to make it to the first. Chesson Hadley – last year's 125th-ranked player – is set to make a similar move from 143rd to 127th, while former world No. 1 Jason Day is expected to drop a few spots to No. 125. Other players to keep in mind in this context when watching the final round include Patton Kizzire, Tyler Duncan and Matthias Schwab, as they are just inside the postseason bubble.
There are not a ton of players listed below 100-1 since Piercy will be difficult to catch. However, the door did creep open on the 18th hole of his third round when he made bogey on the gettable par 5, launching some of his competitors back into contention. If Piercy does not get the job done, expect Finau to do it. Despite holding this sentiment, it is a no-bet at the current number, as four strokes over the course of 18 holes is a lot of ground to make up. As such, targeting Finau in a three-ball and letting the tournament play out may be the sound decision.
Now six strokes behind Scott Piercy, the former Texas Longhorn is in a log jam at 13 under alongside Emiliano Grillo and Tony Finau. He still has an opportunity to add a birdie to finish at No. 18 to push his lead to seven by tomorrow.
With an Emiliano Grillo bogey, Scott Piercy's lead has stretched to six strokes. Not even a blister can stop the leader as he is getting up and down from everywhere and converting his birdie opportunities when they are presented.
After short siding himself on the par-4 14th, Scott Piercy was able to get up and down to keep his lead at five strokes. Standing at 19 under, I am sure the leader will hope to get to at least 20 under by the end of the day.
Playing with a pretty mean blister, Scott Piercy has gotten to 19 under and has extended his lead to five strokes over Emiliano Grillo. Piercy is taking his shoe off in between shots as the blister is posing problems for the leader.
The PGA Tour rookie has now made seven birdies in his last 10 holes. He has catapulted himself onto the first page of the leaderboard and could add the best finish of his rookie campaign if able to keep this pace up to end his round and into tomorrow.
The two have separated themselves from the field even further after birdies on the accessible par-4 10th. Piercy maintains his four-stroke lead and eight-stroke margin over the rest of the field.
The current leader drops back to 17 under after a bogey on the difficult par-4 ninth. Meanwhile, Emiliano Grillo does the same to sit at 13 under while Doug Ghim has joined Tony Finau in a tie for third at 10 under.
Let's recap where we currently stand in the 3M Open. Scott Piercy has raced out of the gates and gotten to 18 under for the tournament and four strokes ahead of his nearest pursuer Emiliano Grillo. Those two have separated themselves from the pack as an additional four strokes set apart Grillo and Tony Finau who is in third place alone at 10 under.
The horn has sounded at TPC Twin Cities as players will make their way to the clubhouse with thunderstorms in the area. At the time of the pause, Scott Piercy is 5 under through seven holes, in command of a four stroke lead over his playing competitor Emiliano Grillo and stands at 18 under. Tony Finau is the only other player in double-digits under par as he sits eight strokes off the pace and about to make the turn to the inward half.
Both Scott Piercy and Emiliano Grillo are 4 under through their opening six holes and have extended the gap between them and the field. Piercy stands at 17 under while Grillo is at 14 under early in Round 3. There is a trio of players at 9 under, but as it stands, it looks like they will be fighting for bronze.
