PGA Tour Leader Walks Shoeless At 3M Open Due To Blister

Despite a blister on the heel of his foot giving him discomfort, Scott Piercy managed to shoot a five-under-par round and take a four shot lead into the final day at the 3M Open.

After a weather delay of some seven hours, players finally returned to the course at TPC Twin Cities. However, there was one noticeable factor surrounding the American, with Piercy walking with his right shoe in his hand between shots. Quite simply, the 43-year-old would put his shoe on to hit a shot and then remove it. He also kept it on when putting.

"Yesterday I wore a new pair of shoes and kind of rubbed my heel, kind of a nickel-sized blister on the back of my heel," explained Piercy, who is looking for a fifth PGA Tour title and first since 2018. "I tried to do some stuff last night to doctor it up to get ready and just every move the shoe made was painful, so I just took it off. Didn't hurt to walk without it, so I just put it on when I hit and seemed to do okay.

"I had a whole array of stuff on my heel and I guess it just moved in a way where it situated where it didn't really hurt, but it was untied because I kept trying to -- if my heel doesn't touch the back of the shoe, then it doesn't hurt. So I kept trying every time I walked to pull my foot out of the shoe. You know, it was every step was a grind, to be quite honest.

"When you walk that weird, you kind of -- your body kind of adjusts, so putting the shoe back up on and trying to get set up over it correctly, I felt like I couldn't get into my setup like I normally do and I felt that's like where a couple of the loose shots came from, along with the tiredness. But, you know, hopefully get a good night's rest tonight and ready to go tomorrow."

Despite the pain, the American carded seven birdies and two bogies for a round of 66. The 3M Open is also a huge week for the American, as he sits outside the top-125 of the FedEx Cup rankings and is in jeopardy of losing his PGA Tour card. If he were to win on Sunday, he would climb 92 spots to 46th place.

Before that though, Piercy must overcome 18 more holes of golf. However, he and his caddie were in good spirits despite the blister: "Me and my caddie were laughing about it. I was like, can you hand me my shoe to clean it instead of my club!"