Blistered foot has no bearing on Scott Piercy’s fluency @ TPC Twin Cities

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Scott Piercy - TheGolfingHub
Despite playing with a blister on the heel, Scott Piercy added a stroke to his lead at the 3M Open on Saturday. Photo: reuters.com

Scott, long day, pretty much 12 hours since you teed off to since you finished, good little break in the middle, but what’s it feel like to be in with a four-shot lead with one round to go?

Scott Piercy: It feels great. I obviously would have liked to have kind of finished off the
last hole a little bit better. My goal, once I got off to kind of a good start, was to get to 21 and keep the pedal to the metal and just try to go. The last four, five holes, kind of some tired swings and a little bit of mental grind today. So I’m happy that I actually gained a stroke from three to four and let’s go do it again tomorrow (Sunday).

Related: Records keep tumbling as Scott Piercy continues to soar

We saw you out there suffering a foot issue. Can you kind of talk us through that,
when it started and how you’re dealing with it?

Scott: Yesterday (Friday), I wore a new pair of shoes and kind of rubbed my heel, kind of
a dime-sized, nickel-sized blister on the back of my heel. 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.

Did you feel it affected you in any way? You had it unlaced the whole time when
you were hitting shots.

Scott: 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.

Is there a mental hurdle yet to fight there? Like of all the weeks this could happen it’s the one where you’re leading the tournament? Like why now, that kind of stuff and push through those things?

Scott: Yeah, you know, it’s one of those things where it’s like nothing surprises you anymore a little bit. I actually thought about that like on the 12th or 13th hole, like man,
what a mental grind this pain is, like this is not what I needed on a long day like this. If it was just a normal day, it probably would have been okay, but 12 hours, long rain delay, just not the cherry on top you want.

How are you able to push through that, because at that point you’ve got five, six
more holes to go and every shot matters. Like are you able to just try to put your mind in a different spot to just get it to the finish line?

Scott: You just do whatever you can. That’s why you’re so tired. Those last couple swings coming down the stretch were not indicative of anything I’ve done the first three days, so I think that tells you enough, that the mental grind wore down the physical, too.

You were able to wear the shoe the last five or six holes it looked like. Did you just decide it was better to have it on at that point?

Scott: 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.

Had that ever happened to you before? 

Scott: No, no. Me and my caddie were laughing about it. I was like, Can you hand me my shoe to clean it instead of my club?

What does it mean to be in this position going into the final round leading? What
does it mean to you in general to be here?

Scott: It means a lot. I’ve had my struggles and to like prove and show that I can still do it and can do it is a big confidence boost.

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