THE BLAINE, MN - Following Thursday's opening round, Scott Piercy and Sungjae I are tied for the lead at the 3M Open.

Along with Tom Hoge, Brice Garnett, Doug Ghim, Emiliano Grillo, and Tom Hoge, Tony Finau was two strokes down after missing three birdie opportunities over his final four holes.

The TPC Twin Cities in suburban Minneapolis' propensity for delivering low scores stayed true on an 86-degree, dry, windy day.

Off the first tee, Piercy made putts 151 feet long while playing in the day's second group. He made a birdie at four of the opening five holes on his back nine.

The 43-year-old Piercy, who had a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the 3M Open in 2019, is one of many on-the-fringe competitors this year hoping for a late-season boost in the FedExCup race. Piercy entered Minnesota in 138th place, with two more events to compete in to make the playoffs. Piercy has failed to reach the weekend in four of his last six starts.

Piercy has won four events since joining the Tour in 2009. He changed his caddie, swing coach, driver, and putter just last week, which was an unusually extreme series of actions for him.

Piercy said every shot counts, and now is the time to focus. "I guess there's extra buckling, even though we strive to buckle down constantly. It's beautiful to start in this manner.

Now ranked 24th in the world and 19th in the FedExCup, I birdied four of his final six holes. The South Korean golfer, 24, tied for eighth place in the Masters this year but 81st place at The Open the previous week.

This summer, Finau had two top-five finishes. He is currently rated 17th in the world and was the lone holdover from the U.S. Ryder Cup team the previous year.

On holes 15 and 16, the Utah player missed a 3-foot birdie putt and came up short with a 4-foot birdie attempt. On the 18th hole, after having perfect tee and approach shots, his 8-foot birdie putt lipped out and landed 4 inches short of the hole. He would have taken the lead if he had made two of those three.

Hideki Matsuyama, the participant with the highest ranking, withdrew. He shot a 77 on Saturday at the Masters on April 9, matching his lowest round of the season, and claimed a painful wrist as the reason.

Matsuyama, ranked No. 14 in the world and eighth in the FedExCup standings going into the week made a quadruple-bogey on the challenging and lakeside 18th hole.

Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion and this summer's U.S. Open fourth-place finisher, tied for seventh at the inaugural 3M Open in 2019.

Former tennis pro Mardy Fish, competing on a sponsor exemption, was tied for last place at 81.