Sungjae Im and Scott Piercy share lead at 3M Open

Sungjae Im of South Korea birdied four of his final six holes to record a six-under-par 65 to share top spot with Scott Piercy after the first round of the 3M Open.

Im and Piercy finished the day with a two-shot cushion over Tony Finau, Doug Ghim, Tom Hoge, Brice Garnett and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo.

Im, ranked 24 in the world, is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour and looking for his second victory of the season.

He started on the back nine and went two under before catching fire late on. Im rolled in birdies at the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes. Piercy, meanwhile, owns four PGA Tour victories but none since 2018. The 43-year-old hasn't had a top-10 finish this season.

Piercy went two under through nine holes before recording birdies on 10,11, 13 and 14.

"I felt like I struck the ball well all day," Piercy said. "With the winds being crossed and swirly, I felt like I hit good, solid shots into the conservative parts of the green. I felt like I didn't have very difficult putts, even though they were long."

Im and Piercy each had seven birdies to one bogey.

A group tied for eighth at three under includes Ricky Barnes, Chesson Hadley,Peter Malnati, Patton Kizzire, Robert Streb, Hank Lebioda, Jared Wolfe,Sweden's David Lingmerth and Canada's Adam Hadwin.

Defending champion Cameron Champ opened with a four-over 75.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama withdrew after a first-round 77, citing a sore wrist. Matsuyama, who entered the week as the highest-ranked player in the field both in the Official World Golf Ranking and the FedEx Cup standings, put three straight shots into the water at the 18th hole and carded a quadruple-bogey nine.