On Friday at TPC Twin Cities, Scott Piercy shot a bogey-free 64 and will enter the weekend with a three-shot lead over Emiliano Grillo at the 3M Open.
Piercy finished his second day in Minnesota with 11 pars and seven birdies, highlighted by four in a row on Nos. 10-13, en route to a 13-under par halftime score.
“Yeah, like I said, I put the new putter in yesterday,” said Piercy, who last won on the PGA Tour in 2015 (Barbasol).
“I think it got me a little bit farther away from the ball, maybe a little bit more on the balls of my feet instead of my heels, so maybe I’m a little more stable. I think the squareness of the putter kind of helps me line it up. For some reason I feel like it’s either — it’s a little hotter roll than my old one because I have a tendency to leave stuff short, but I’m getting a lot of balls to the hole so they have a chance to go in.”
He added, “Obviously it feels great. It’s been a little bit since I’ve played like I feel like I should play. To kind of prove it to myself again, I know it’s in there, it’s just like, okay, how do we get it out of me. There’s a lot of business to take care of this weekend, but to come out the first two days and do what I did gives me a lot of confidence going into the weekend.”
Grillo (65), who posted his first top 10 of the season two weeks ago at the John Deere Classic, signed for a one-bogey scorecard, highlighted by five birdies and an eagle to reach 10 under par.
“Yeah, great,” said Grillo, when asked to describe his round. “Obviously anything under par on windy days, it’s a plus.
“Obviously I think I was able to manage the ball pretty well and I was able to make the putts when I had the chance. Obviously that one on 6, it’s a big plus to steal two and it’s a hole that’s kind of hard to get in two, so solid day.”
Callum Tarren shot a low-round 63 to move into solo third on 8 under par, one clear of five-player logjam headlined by Sung-Jae Im (70) and Tony Finau (68).
The pre-tournament favorite Hideki Matsuyama withdrew from the tournament following a 77 which included a quadruple bogey on the par-5 18th hole.
3M Open
Top 5: Leaderboard
Pos-Player-Score (Rd 2)
1. Scott Piercy -13 (-7)
2. Emiliano Grillo -10 (-6)
3. Callum Tarren -8 (-8)
4. Robert Streb -7 (-4)
4. Tony Finau -7 (-3)
4. Tom Hoge -7 (-3)
4. Doug Ghim -7 (-3)
4. Sung-Jae Im -7 (-1)
