Victory gives Piercy plenty of future guarantees
Four weeks ago, Scott Piercy was in the midst of a decent season on the PGA Tour, but he didn’t have any guarantees.
No guarantee that he’d make the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs. No guarantee he’d have his tour card for the 2011 season. No guarantee that he wouldn’t have to spend this fall playing every tournament possible in order to boost his standing in the money rankings.
Now he’s got guarantees on all that — and more. Amazing what one victory can do for a guy.
Piercy, a former Bonanza High School and San Diego State standout, won the Reno-Tahoe Open on Aug. 7, pocketing $540,000 in the process for his first PGA Tour title. The victory earned him a spot a week later in the PGA Championship, the final major of the year, and he made that pay by tying for 26th.
More important, though, the Reno win assured he’ll be part of the four-tournament, $8 million FedEx Cup, which begins this week with The Barclays at Edinson, N.J. Furthermore, the title gives him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. Guaranteed.
“I told everybody that I’m excited about winning, but I’m more relieved,” Piercy said last week while taking a well-deserved break from the tour. “I have a job for the next two full years, and I’m also relieved that I did close the deal. It’s a relief to know I could do it, and that I’ve got a job and can plan my schedule.”
Piercy, 33 and in his third full season on the PGA Tour, had been in his share of final groups, but he’d never closed it out with a win. In the fourth round at Reno, a 2-under 70 was enough to do it — thanks to a blistering 61 in the third round.
“That was either my fifth or sixth final group,” said Piercy, a star golfer at Bonanza who also helped the Bengals win two state soccer titles. “I’m probably a lot better player now than the last year or two in a final group. I just felt different.
“I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve taken what I learned in the other final groups and used it that week. I felt a lot more prepared.”
Still, no matter how prepared one might be, finishing off a PGA Tour win is hardly a given.
“Obviously, I wanted to play well. I go to win, but I just have to see how it plays out,” he said, adding he wanted to finish high enough to get the prestigious FedEx Cup spot. “I ended up doing a lot more than that.”
That was primarily due to his stunning effort in the Saturday round. Piercy was tied for 45th to start the day and opened the third round with a par. Then he birdied the second hole, and the third hole, and the fourth, and every subsequent hole through the ninth. Eight straight birdies, for a torrid 8-under 28 on the front nine.
By the fifth hole, Piercy realized he was on to something.
“I chipped in for birdie, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s pretty nice.’ On the next hole, I hit my drive down the middle, then hit my approach to 8 feet,” Piercy said. “I made a 30-footer on No. 7, then I was kind of like, ‘I’m still going, I’ve got a par-5 next, and I can reach it in two.’
“I hit driver-3 wood and two putted. And on No. 9, I hit driver-sand wedge within 4 feet.”
His birdie binge ended after a par on No. 10, and he didn’t have a bogey until No. 17 — which he immediately followed with an eagle on the par-5 18th to cap his round of 11-under 61.
With as well as he played the front nine, Piercy had a legitimate shot at the PGA Tour record of 59, but he said that didn’t cross his mind.
“It didn’t, because I made like four pars in a row,” said Piercy, who had birdie chances at both 12 and 13. “If I birdie 12 and 13, it’s more of a realistic chance.”
But it’s hard to complain about the result.
“I only made one bad swing,” he said. “I was in control with where the ball was going, what I was thinking, the emotion of it.”
The victory landed him at Atlanta Athletic Club four days later for the PGA Championship. Running on fumes, he still mustered a 1-over 281 total on a demanding course.
“I was exhausted all week. I slept about three hours Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (after the Reno win), then actually got some good sleep Wednesday night,” Piercy said. “I knew I gave away some strokes, but I played solid. Overall, it was a good week. I was just lucky to be there.”
Now he gets to compete in the ultra-lucrative FedEx Cup. The top 125 in FedEx points make the field; Piercy stands 80th and said he should be in the field for the first two of the four events and stands a good chance of making the third week.
“I’m in the first two pretty much for sure, and I’m only four spots out of the third week right now,” he said. “As long as I can do what I’ve been doing, I’ll be in three events. And if I play the way I think I can, I should hopefully be in all four.”
With even modest FedEx Cup success, Piercy could earn enough to make this his best season. In 2009, his first full year on the PGA Tour, he netted $1.03 million. This year, he’s already at $956,224.
“It’s my best year, performancewise, and the year is not over,” he said. “I’m expecting to surpass my 2009 numbers.”
And when 2012 rolls around, he’ll have much more control over his schedule and how much time he can spend with his wife and three kids — all boys, ages 13, 8 and 2.
“Now that I’ve won, all that pressure goes away,” he said. “It’s hard to leave that support group, so it’s easier now that I can set my schedule. I won’t be away from home as much. I’ve traveled all over, and I haven’t really found a place I like better than Vegas.”
