What you missed at The Open, Round 3

BLAINE, Minn. — Scott Piercy shot a 5-under 66 at rain-soaked TPC Twin Cities on Saturday in round that was delayed more than 6 1/2 hours to take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the 3M Open. Playing through a painful blister on his right heel, the 43-year-old Piercy had a 18-under 195 total. He has four PGA TOUR victories. “I’ve had my struggles and to like prove and show that I can still do it and can do it is a big confidence boost,” Piercy said. Emiliano Grillo was second after a 67. Tony Finau and Doug Ghim were tied for third, five strokes back. They each shot 65. Play was suspended for 6 hours, 38 minutes. Tee times were moved up and the field played off split tees in threesomes, however play was suspended at 10:57 a.m. and didn’t resume until 5:35 p.m. Piercy played through the blister that he said developed yesterday after wearing a new pair of shoes. After opening with two pars, Piercy birdied the next five holes before play was suspended. The run began with an 18-foot putt on the par-4 third. . Piercy converted the next four birdies, all with putts inside 15 feet. It was only after that the pain from the blister crept in, so much so that he took off his shoe in between every shot up until the 14th hole. “When you walk that weird, your body kind of adjusts, so putting the shoe back up on and trying to get set up over it correctly,” Piercy said. “I felt like I couldn’t get into my setup like I normally do and I felt that’s like where a couple of the loose shots came from, along with the tiredness.” Piercy was even par over his final 11 holes, making a bogey on the par-5 18th. He went for the green in two and hit short into the water. It’s the sixth time Piercy has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead, the last coming at the 2016 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He’s won two of those events, the 2011 Barracuda Championship and the 2015 Barbasol Championship. His last victory came in the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he teamed with Billy Horschel. Grillo eagled the par-5 sixth hole for the second day in a row. “If (Piercy) brings half of his game from today to tomorrow, that’s going to be very tough,” Grillo said.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Daniel Berger shot a 4-under 66 to erase a three-shot deficit and win the FedEx St. Jude Classic for a second straight year. The 24-year-old is the fourth back-to-back winner at St. Jude and the first since David Toms did it in 2003 and ’04. Berger played a bogey-free round on Sunday, avoiding trouble on a fast, firm course at TPC Southwind. His 17-foot birdie putt on No. 15 put him ahead for good and he finished at 10-under 270. Now he’ll take quite a bit of momentum into next week’s U.S. Open. South African Charl Schwartzel shot a 66 and South Korean Whee Kim shot a 67 to finish in second, one shot behind Berger. Amateur Braden Thornberry and Billy Horschel were among five players two shots back. Stewart Cink, Ben Crane and Rafa Cabrera Bello started Sunday with a one-shot lead on a crowded leaderboard that included 12 players within three shots of the lead. Things became even more jumbled once the final round began. At one point, there were nine players tied for the lead at 8-under before Berger finally emerged from the pile. Phil Mickelson briefly had a share of the lead during the final round, but a triple bogey on No. 12 — which included a shot into the water — knocked him out of contention. He still shot a 68 and finished at 7-under, three shots behind the leaders. Thornberry shot a 65 and became the first amateur to finish in the top 10 at the St. Jude Classic since 1965. Thornberry, a sophomore at Mississippi who is from nearby Olive Branch, Mississippi, recently won the NCAA individual championship with for the school’s first golf title.

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