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PGA TOUR

Piercy leads by 2 after first round of 3M Open

BLAINE, Minn.

Scott Piercy had one birdie in his first seven holes Thursday.

Then he went on a binge.

Piercy birdied eight of his final 11 holes en route to a 9-under 62 and a two-shot lead after the first round of the inaugural 3M Open.

“I was thinking 4, 5-under a day would be nice. You always get one or two guys that kind of go really low and I just happened to be that guy,” Piercy said.

Adam Hadwin and Hideki Matsuyama are each two shots back after a 7-under 64 at the TPC Twin Cities.

Seeking his fifth career tour win and first since the 2018 Zurich Classic, Piercy birdied one of his first seven holes and eight of his final 11, including a nearly 30-foot putt on No. 16 to get to 8 under. He needed just 25 strokes on the greens.

Piercy struggled late at the U.S. Open three weeks ago, including a final-round 77, and finished 52nd, but some rest and a tweak to how his driver is weighted produced a satisfying result.

“I put in a few hours Friday, Saturday just to kind of get the rust off,” he said.

He hit 13 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in a round that was interrupted early by a 36-minute weather delay and showers fell briefly a couple of times during the rest of his round. The winds also picked up at times in the afternoon.

Playing in the calm morning, Matsuyama and Hadwin found success on the soft greens.

Ranked 93rd on tour, averaging 28.95 putts per round, Matsuyama had 26, including making 13 of 14 from inside 10 feet and four of five from 10 to 15 feet. He did not three-putt a hole.

“I’ve been trying lots of different things and the stance, the narrow stance, seemed to work today,” he said through an interpreter.

Starting on No. 10, Matsuyama, a five-time tour champion who last won at the 2017 Bridgestone Invitational, had four straight birdies around the turn before back-to-back birdies on Nos. 5 and 6. His lone bogey was his final hole.

The 3M Open is the first regular tour event in Minnesota since 1969; however, the U.S. Open and PGA Championship have each twice been contested at Hazeltine National Golf Club. The 2016 Ryder Cup was also played there and is to return in 2028.

The tournament replaces a PGA Tour Champions event held in the Land of 10,000 Lakes for 26 years.

Arjun Atwal, Brian Harman, Sungjae Im, Patton Kizzire and Sam Saunders are three back after shooting 6-under 65.

Brooks Koepka, the world’s top-ranked player, is among more than a dozen players who shot a 4-under 67. Nate Lashley, who won last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, finished 2 under.

Phil Mickelson had seven penalty strokes, including two on the par-5 18th, and finished 3 over.

Minnesota native Tim Herron aced the 208-yard eighth hole.

LPGA TOUR

Park leads Noh by 1 at Thornberry Creek

ONEIDA, Wis.

Yealimi Noh began her week trying to qualify for the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. She played the opening two rounds alongside an amateur whom she beat by 73 shots. And now she goes into the weekend paired with the No. 1 player in women’s golf.

Noh believes six months of hard work in paying off. She just never imagined a week like this.

Sung Hyun Park, whose victory last week in Arkansas returned her to No. 1 in the world, twice ran off four straight birdies Friday for a 10-under 62 to break the tournament’s 36-hole scoring record and take a one-shot lead over Noh into the weekend.

Park was at 17-under 127 on a Thornberry Creek at Oneida course that last year yielded a winning score of 31-under par.

Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 64 and was two shots out of the lead, and the Thai suggested that a course giving up so many low scores — the cut was at 5-under 139 — might be what makes it difficult.

“Actually, I feel like it’s really tough for me because I felt like every hole, everybody have the chance to make birdie,” she said.

Park made so many she lost track.

Starting with the par-5 13th hole, she ran off four straight birdies. She closed out her round on the front nine with four straight birdies.

“I made four birdies in a row twice today. I honestly didn’t know,” Park said through a translator. “When I was 8 under today, I thought I was 7 under.”

Mina Harigae (63) and Tiffany Joh (66) were at 14-under 130, while Shanshan Feng of China had a 67 and was four shots behind.

The biggest surprise was Noh, mainly because of the schedule she keeps.

Coming off a superb summer of amateur golf last year — she won the Girls Junior PGA, the U.S. Junior Girls and the Canadian Women’s Amateur in three consecutive weeks — Noh decided not to play at UCLA and turn pro, even though she had no status on any tour.

She has received two sponsor exemptions on the Symetra Tour. She played a Korean LPGA event. And she has been trying to Monday qualify for LPGA Tour events, without much success. She finally got through this week, and is making the most of it.

“It means so much,” Noh said. “All the hard work, all the months of just like not knowing where I’m going to play and what I’m going to do, just finally playing here and playing well is really like a dream come true.”

EUROPEAN TOUR

Zander Lombard pushes ahead by 1

LAHINCH, Ireland

Zander Lombard shot a 3-under 67 on Friday to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Irish Open.

The 24-year-old South African, who hadn’t made a cut since early March, found himself inspired at bumpy, quirky Lahinch on Ireland’s West coast. He closed with three straight birdies in Thursday’s opening round for a 64, and he followed it up Friday by playing the back nine in 3 under to post 9-under 131.

“I’m so comfortable on links golf,” Lombard said. “It’s never just a normal shot. It’s always a little three-quarter, a little punch, judging the wind right. I’ve had great success on links golf in my amateur career.”

Eddie Pepperell endured cool, rainy conditions early in his round to shoot 67 and was 8 under.

“I looked out the window when I woke up and it looked OK, and then the first probably six, seven holes were really quite tough and drizzly and it was hard to get a flight on the ball, and it was tough,” Pepperell said. “We saw Lahinch probably a bit more the way we should see it today.”

Abraham Ancer, Jorge Campillo and Lee Westwood were two shots back. Campillo shot 64, the low round of the day.

Padraig Harrington followed up his opening-round 63 with a 73 to fall to 4 under.

The top three finishers inside the top 10 who have not already qualified for the British Open will earn spots in the field at Royal Portrush.

Associated Press