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Scott Piercy extended his Round 1 lead Friday at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities and takes a three-stroke advantage over Emiliano Grillo and a five-stroke lead over Callum Tarren in third place into Moving Day. The tournament has become Piercy’s to lose at the halfway point, but there are some heavy hitters waiting to clean up if he falters over the final two rounds.
Tony Finau is the biggest of these names as he backed up his 67 in Round 1 with a 68 in Round 2 and remains in the mix after a month of perhaps his best golf of the year. His story is one of the biggest to follow as this tournament heats up over the next few days and our first post-Open Championship winner is determined.
We’ll get to all of that and more in this Round 2 recap.
The leaders
1. Scott Piercy (-13): After firing the best round Thursday, Piercy fired the second-best round Friday. That’s normally a good formula. Incredibly, Piercy remained just as hot with his putter in Round 2 and leads the event by a wide margin with over eight strokes gained on the greens. If you’re looking for a reason to go against him in either a matchup or the tournament overall, that’s a pretty good one.
On the flip side, he’s striking the ball splendidly, and has just one bogey in his first 36 holes. Here’s a stat that shows just how well he’s playing so far this week: Piercy has gained over twice as many strokes on the field as the group of players that’s currently tied for ninth. He’s looking for his first individual PGA Tour win since 2015 when he won the Barbasol Championship.
“Obviously it feels great,” Piercy said of his lead. “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.”
Other contenders
2. Emiliano Grillo (-10)
3. Callum Tarren (-8)
T4. Sungjae Im, Robert Streb, Tony Finau, Tom Hoge (-7)
Finau is in a perfect position to get his first win of the season. While it’s true that he’s six back of Piercy, it’s also true that he’s second in the field in tee-to-green game by a wide margin. He’s been a below average putter this week, which means that if anything starts dropping, he’s going to be a handful over the last two rounds. Finau has a good history here, too, with three top 30 finishes and a T3 back in 2020. Hoge, by the way, is the only player in this field hitting it better than Finau. He, too, has lost strokes with his putter.
Quote of the day
Finau was asked how he handled the flight from Scotland to Minnesota, and his answer was great (and relatable!).
“I tell people this all the time, a lot of people sleep, coffee — coffee is a huge thing — but when you have five kids in your face, as soon as you see them, jet lag’s all gone,” Finau said. “Maybe that’s a huge reason why I’m not feeling a lot of jet lag, I’ve got my family here and it’s been a lot of fun.”
Shot of the day
Chesson Hadley hit a truly ridiculous chip off the green, onto a tiny patch of rough, back onto the green and somehow made it. Do not try this at home. Hadley shot 2 under and is T9 after two rounds.
3M Open odds, picks
Here is a look at the updated odds after 36 holes of play, via Caesars Sportsbook.
- Scott Piercy: 5/2
- Emiliano Grillo: 5-1
- Tony Finau: 11/2
- Sungjae Im: 6-1
- Callum Tarren: 12-1
- Tom Hoge: 14-1
- Doug Ghim: 25-1
Going solely on numbers, I love Finau and Hoge here. The out-of-control putter will likely catch up to Piercy at some point, and Finau and Hoge are hitting the ball like tournament winners right now. Hoge not only leads in tee-to-green but also approach shots and should have plenty of looks over the next two days. Six strokes looks like a lot, but it’s probably going to be shorter than that after the third round. I’d prefer Hoge at 14-1 over Finau at 11/2, but I’d take either one of them.
Rick Gehman and Jonathan Coachman recap Friday’s action at the 3M Open. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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