Scott Piercy channels David Bowie and makes tons of changes, grabs share of lead at 3M Open

Scott Piercy knew he had to make a change.

Check that.

Piercy knew he had to make changes.

Check that.

Piercy knew he had to make a lot of changes.

So, the veteran PGA Tour player with four wins on his resume overhauled nearly everything associated with his game heading into the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.

It’s a long list.

Start with his new coach, Dana Dahlquist. Micah Fugitt, who was on the bag when Billy Horschel won the 2014 FedEx Cup, is the new caddie. A Titleist TSR2 driver is now in the bag. As is a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 square blade putter.

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Piercy, 43, also is working on a few alterations with his swing.

And he made all those changes last week.

“Just kind of a whole lot of stuff going on,” he said.

That would include a 6-under 65 Thursday in the opening round of the windy, tricky 3M Open to grab a share of the early lead with Sungjae Im. Piercy hit 16 greens in regulation, made three birdies in his first eight holes and then, after a sloppy bogey on his ninth hole, reeled off four birdies in five holes.

“If I can ride that putter, which I don’t like to talk about a whole lot. I’m normally a ball‑striker and the ball‑striking hasn’t been there either,” Piercy said. “Hitting 16 greens today and being able to roll in a few putts with the wedges being close it’s kind of like a perfect formula for me.

“I put in the work to make sure the stuff’s right. When it’s under the gun, it sometimes can be a little different, but the results with the putter today, I couldn’t be happier. It actually made me smile and I don’t smile much.”
There hasn’t been much to smile about lately. Piercy hasn’t won in more than four years, is 138^th in the FedEx Cup standings and 297^th in the official world golf rankings. And like he said, his bread-and-butter iron play has been toast.

“Oh, really? You noticed,” Piercy responded when told he’s been struggling. “The ball‑striking numbers over the last couple years have (been poor). Through my career, I’ve been in like the high 60s with my ball‑striking and I started looking at my stats over the last kind of two years and I was like 135 in ball‑striking. I’ve made all my money generally with ball‑striking.

“That was what spawned the coach stuff. The caddie, 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 a little bit scary.

“But I feel comfortable with it.”

Piercy knows he has to start trending in the right direction to make the postseason. There is this week and two more for players to earn a spot.

“If I can take care of this week, then next two aren’t as important,” he said. “I feel pretty comfortable. I’ve made some swing changes, got a new coach, new caddie, so there’s a lot of stuff going on with me that I feel like is all good, just coming together could be really good.”