BLAINE, Minn. (July 21, 2022) – First-round co-leaders Scott Piercy and Singjae Im posted a pair of 6-under-par 65s at the 3M Open on Thursday at the TPC of the Twin Cities. Strong winds kept the scoring average the highest in the 3M tournament's four-year history, 72.78, but it didn’t keep the Piercy and Im from sinking a combined 291 feet of putts for a total of 13 birdies, offset by only two bogies.
Five players are tied for third with 67's, including Tony Finau, who was last inside the top three on the leaderboard after the first round of a PGA Tour event in 2020 here at the 3M. Finau, who has relatives in the area, says it's the only time of the year that fishing is on his agenda.
"I think Minneapolis is a great place. I like the golf course, great fans and great food. It's a hard place to beat [and], it's the one time of the of the year I know I'm going to fishing on the lakes out here."
The defending champ, Cameron Champ, got off to a horrible start and was 6 over after eight holes. He got two of those lost strokes back on the back nine, but is tied for 119th with a 75.
Im, 24, and a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, is ranked 24th in the Official World Golf Rankings; Piercy, 43, owns four tour titles, and is ranked 297th. The two are ranked 1-2 in putting amongst the field at this edition of the 3M.
Tom Hoge, a former All-American from Fargo, N.D., and a two-time MGA Amateur champion (2009-2010), is looking to regain his early season form when he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, earned a $1.5 million payday and broke into the top 50 in the OWGR's (38th). Hoge's round included a 4-putt at the 18th green (his ninth hole).
"I kind of laughed that one off. I didn't feel like I hit that bad of a second putt and I got a really big wind gust right in the middle of the putt and it just carried it way down the slope."
Hoge bounced back with a birdie at the next hole (No. 1), and group of players bunched at 4 under.
Ryan Moore, 39, who had a dream year in 2004 winning the NCAA individual championship, the Western Amateur, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Amateur Public Links, which was played at Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove. Another of Moore's most impressive accomplishments occurred in Minnesota. He sank the clinching putt in America's win at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National. After one round at TPC Blaine, he is tied for 44th with a 71.
Moore's Ryder Cup teammate, Rickie Fowler, a former top-ranked amateur and 5-time PGA Tour winner -- and one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour -- shot 70 and is tied for 23rd. .
Troy Merritt, who went to Spring Lake Park High School, is tied for 59th with a 72. Jeff Sorenson, the director of instruction at The Minikahda Club, is T141, at 6-over-par 77. Mardy Fish, the 40-year-old former tennis star from Edina who received a sponsor’s exemption, is T150, at 10-over-par 81.
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