Scott

Piercy

Piercy opened his week with a 5-over 76 that put him well outside of the cut line. He’s now been a mid-tourney WD in two straight events (Travelers Championship). Piercy started the week just 124th in the FedExCup race, 54 spots outside of the Playoffs bubble.

Piercy entered the week at 119th in the FedExCup race with four top 25s as the highlight. He could be on his way to a fifth after today’s start. He split just 5-of-14 fairways but still managed to find 14 GIR. From there, his putter caught fire, gaining 4.5 strokes putting (2nd). The highlight was a 34'6" birdie bomb at the par-4 first, his 10th hole of the day. He’ll need to tidy up the driver if he wants to stay in the mix but this is certainly a good start for him at TPC Craig Ranch, a venue where he previously missed two cuts in two tries.

The event got started after a 48-minute fog delay this morning but that lasted for just 24 minutes before players were called back off the course. The opening round got back underway at 11:20 a.m. CT which will cause round one to bleed into Friday and the second round will also bleed into Saturday. Scott Piercy was not bothered by the fog as he opened his week with back-to-back birdies and now sits at 3-under thru 5 as play resumes on Thursday afternoon.

Piercy split 9-of-14 fairways and landed 14 greens in regulation. “I hit one squirrelly shot on 3, I hit it right and it ended up in the hazard and got it up and down like 150. But other than that, I mean, 17 and 15, like horseshoe ones, but I hit good iron shots and hit some really good putts.” He would go on to talk about what he likes about the course at El Camaleon, “I think you have to drive it well and then I think you have to be a good, call it a wedge player like inside 150... some guys are really good from like 175 to 200 and I happen to be good from 150 and in.” Piercy arrived with six straight cuts made at this event including notable top 10s at the 2017 and 2019 editions.

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.

The 43-year-old, who was a R1 co-leader and the 36-hole leader by three, endured a weather delay of 6 hours, 38 minutes on Saturday, as well as a blister on his heel (walking shoeless on occasion) to now lead by four over playing competitor Emiliano Grillo (67). This is his sixth 54-hole lead/co-lead in 357 events, previously 2-for-5 converting, and first since the 2016 WGC-Bridgestone, where he was T1 with Jason Day and shot even-par 70 from the final pairing to finish 2nd, one short of Dustin Johnson. At the three-quarter pole, the SDSU alum has posted laps of 65-64-66, tallied 21 birdies, No. 1 in that stat, against three bogeys, seven versus two today, and ranks 8th SG: Tee-to-Green (6.576) and No. 1 SG: Putting (11.061), including a 2.560 SGP in R3. He’ll be out of the final threesome on Sunday with Grillo and Doug Ghim, vying for a fifth TOUR title, first since the 2018 Zurich teamed with Billy Horschel 106 starts ago, and first individually since the opposite-field Barbasol in 2015 (172 starts ago), where he was a 54-hole co-leader (69-66-65-65). See link below to post-round comments.

This is the 43-year-old’s fifth 36-hole lead/co-lead in 357 events, previously 1-for-4 converting. It’s his first since the 2019 CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, where he led by one before finishing T5 (70-65-72-69), while his lone conversion came in his first attempt, at the 2012 RBC Canadian Open, where he was T1 (w/ Wiliam McGirt) before going on to a 1-shot victory over McGirt and Robert Garrigus (62-67-67-67). The SDSU alum owns four TOUR victories, most recently the 2018 Zurich 106 starts ago teamed with Billy Horschel, while his most recent individual win is the opposite-field Barbasol in 2015 (172 starts ago), where he was T6 at halftime and a 54-hole co-leader (69-66-65-65). This week, he’s hoisted up laps of 65-64, today’s effort an 8-birdie trot on 15 greens in regulation, and ranks 7th SG: Tee-to-Green (6.563) and 1st SG: Putting (8.502), including a 4.017 SGP in R2. See link below to post-round comments.

Piercy entered at just 138th in the FedExCup race and made a lot of recent changes as he tries to play his way into the FEC Playoffs. Last week he switched up his swing coach and caddie while he put in a new driver and putter this week. “Sometimes you just, you’ve got to make a change to get better. And I don’t like to change, so for me to have all these changes is a good thing, but it’s -- like he says, it’s a little bit scary, but I feel comfortable with it.” Piercy poured home four putts from outside of 19 feet today so the new flat stick certainly worked well on day one. He’s currently 2nd in strokes gained putting today (+4.3) just behind co-leader, Sungjae Im. This isn’t his first fast start at TPC Twin Cities as he was the first-round leader during the inaugural 2019 edition where he’d go on to post a T15 by week’s end.

Piercy enters the week ranked 126th in the FedExCup race. He’s opened the season with six cuts made in 11 starts with highlights that include a T11 at the Fortinet Championship and T19 at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. As for this week’s event, Piercy holds a 1-for-6 record at the API with a T54 in 2019 being the lone payday. His 74.71 career scoring average at BayHill Club & Lodge makes him a tough name to trust in any fantasy format this week.

DeChambeau has been missing in action for nearly a month now. He was last seen at the Saudi International where he withdrew with hand and hip injuries. He shared a video on his social media account calling this a tough decision, claiming he’s at 90% currently but doesn’t want to put the rest of his season at risk with a reinjury. Gamers should wait for a clean bill of health before reinvesting in weekly fantasy formats.