From the final threesome, overnight leader and World No. 297 Scott Piercy stalled out to a 5-over 35-41=76 in R4 of the 3M Open, falling three spots to a season-best T4 on 13-under 271, four back of champion Tony Finau (67).
The 43-year-old was an 18-hole co-leader, 36-hole leader by three, 54-hole leader by four and after birdies at holes 2 and 6 (fringe-shot from 29'11"), had increased the lead to five over Finau, who was playing one group ahead. Despite back-to-back bogeys at 8 (3-putt from 44'4") and 9 (failed scramble), he turned in level-par and was still leading by four over Finau, who had also bogeyed the ninth, but after a bogey-birdie-bogey run at 11-13, it all came unraveled with a triple bogey-7 at 14, which began with a plugged lie in a fairway bunker off-the-tee. On eight (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, the SDSU alum outbalanced four birdies with six bogeys and the triple, gaining 2.443 strokes around but losing 1.184 off-the-tee, 3.393 on approach, and posted a forgettable 2.000 putts per GIR and -2.027 SG: Putting with 29 total putts. This was his fourth 3M and second top 25 after a T15 in the inaugural in 2019 as the 18-hole leader, and his first top 10 of the season in 25 events, first since solo 3rd at last season’s opposite-field Barracuda 27 starts ago. The Las Vegas native and resident, who drops to 2-for-6 as a 54-hole leader/co-leader, is in the published field at next week’s Rocket Mortgage and is projected to arrive there 112th in the FedExCup standings.