Scott Piercy stood on the eighth tee Sunday with a five-stroke lead and a hand in the 3M Open trophy. However, just as a comfort level seemed to surface, the 43-year-old felt a shock to his system, carding four bogeys and an ugly triple bogey in his next seven holes. What was his loss was Tony Finau’s gain as the 32-year-old was the man to seize the opportunity and finally claim victory at the 2022 3M Open.
Starting the day five shots off Piercy’s lead, Finau handled his business on the front nine and turned in at 1 under. Adding a birdie on the 11th, the now three-time PGA Tour winner failed to convert his birdie effort on the par-5 12th to move within one of the leaders; instead, he dropped three shots behind Piercy when his competitor birdied.
Finau kept his head down, however, and continued to push forward and added birdies on Nos. 14-16. With Piercy experiencing trouble behind him, Finau not only catapulted himself to the top of the leaderboard, but with a lead that had grown to four strokes in the blink of an eye.
Lucky to get a break on the par-3 17th when his tee shot stayed dry after bouncing off a fairway, Finau was able to get up and down for par. It proved to be a crucial moment as he found water off the tee on the final 18 and bogeyed to enter 17 under for the tournament.
That effort secured his third PGA Tour title and second in less than a year, as his last trip to the winner’s circle came last season at The Northern Trust, the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs .
In what started as a worrying 2022, Finau has been able to turn his fortunes around since the beginning of May. Finau began with a runner-up performance at the Mexican Open, and added a top-five finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge and battled Rory McIlroy at the RBC Canadian Open, where he also finished second.
Although for most of the week it felt like the field was jockeying for a spot on the podium due to Piercy’s dominance, it just goes to show the importance of consistently playing in position. Few have been better at this than Finau over the years, who has 29 top-five finishes since 2017.
For Finau, the wins haven’t been rolling in yet, but golf is often a racing game. Patrick Cantlay in last year’s playoffs; Viktor Hovland this past winter; Scottie Scheffler during the spring; and Xander Schauffele in midsummer. Maybe, just maybe, this postseason will be Tony Finau’s. Grade: A+
Here are the ratings of the rest of the notables in the 2022 3M Open standings
T2. Sungjae Im (-14): After a disappointing trip to Scotland, it’s encouraging to see Im rediscovering some form. The South Korean withdrew before the Travelers Championship and missed the cut at the US Open. The epitome of consistency, he arrived at TPC Twin Cities and married his consistent ball-striking with some competent play. Im’s around the green game lagged behind, but after playing for three weeks straight, even the golf version of Iron Man may have suffered some sort of fatigue. Grade: B+
Q4. Scott Piercy (-13): If you told Piercy earlier in the week that he would get a top-five finish, he would have taken it and run. While the full context of the situation paints a disappointing picture, he will be able to take some positives despite squandering a five-stroke lead with just 10 holes to play. Piercy started the week 138th in rushing on the season and moved up to 112th with his play at Minnesota. A win would have seen Piercy inside the top 50, but with just two weeks left in the regular season, seeing his name inside the top 125 provides at least some sense of job security. Grade: A-
T17. Cameron Champ (-7): He birdied his first nine holes Thursday, which he played in 6 more, and Champ made a solid defensive effort. Playing his final 63 holes in 13 under, the three-time PGA Tour winner ended a skid that included five consecutive missed cuts. Prior to that, Champ had finished T10 at the Masters and T6 at the Mexican Open. With a similar finish at TPC Twin Cities, perhaps the 27-year-old will ride that momentum into the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Degree: B
T38. Rickie Fowler (-3): The five-time PGA Tour winner was looking for a spark to kick off the end of his season, but he couldn’t find it in Minnesota. Finishing in the middle of the pack, Fowler continued his drought as he has remained without a top-20 finish in 2022. Now even further out of the top 125 in the FedEx Cup points race, he heads into next week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. need to find lightning in a bottle to make the postseason. The good news is that Fowler ranked 24th in strokes gained tee to green thanks to strong efforts off the tee and around the green. The bad news is that he’s a shell of his former self and only has one year of status left due to his 2015 Players Championship win.Grade: D