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Tournaments

Here’s what you missed from Round 1 of the 3M Open

Jessica MarksburyBy Jessica Marksbury
July 5, 2019

The PGA Tour’s midwest swing continues with a stop in Blaine, Minn. for the inaugural 3M Open. With the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland less than two weeks away, a healthy showing of the world’s best players (Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day and Bryson DeChambeau, to name a few) is on hand this week to prepare for the year’s final major.

Here’s everything you missed from Thursday’s action.

Scott Piercy lit it up

Who needs to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July when you could just re-watch Scott Piercy’s opening round? (Ba-dum-bum!) Okay, bad jokes aside, the 40-year-old Tour vet had a perfect scorecard on Thursday that featured nine birdies and zero bogeys. Pretty impressive. He currently leads the field by two shots.

Piercy has been having a great season so far, with six top-10 finishes. A win this week would mark the fifth of his career.

Scott Piercy is seeking his fifth career Tour victory this week.
Scott Piercy is seeking his fifth career Tour victory this week.
Getty Images
Lots of good players are in the mix

Another player having a quietly good season is Hideki Matsuyama, who has four top-10s and fired an opening round of 64 to trail Piercy by two strokes.

Tony Finau and Bryson DeChambeau both shot 66 and are four shots behind, while Brooks Koepka had a 67 and is five back.

Jason Day and Patrick Reed are two under par overall after opening 69s and trail by seven.

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Phil Mickelson lost four balls in the water

It was a tough opening round for Phil Mickelson, who has missed the cut in three of his last five starts. Things were going along relatively smoothly until No. 18 (Phil’s ninth hole of the day), when he hit two straight into the water and suffered a triple bogey. Two more water balls on the front (his second nine) contributed to a first round of three-over-par 74.

With so many players in red after Round 1, Phil will likely need to go super-low on Friday to make sure he’s around for the weekend.

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Bad weather caused a short delay

Storms in the area resulted in a suspension of play at 1:10 p.m. local time. Luckily, the delay was brief, and players were back on the course at 1:46 p.m.

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