Scott Piercy

Piercy showed some signs of life late in the summer, nearly winning the 3M Open while posting six top-25s on the season. The 43-year-old is a below average ball-striker at this point of his career, however, with subpar length and distance off-the-tee and mediocre at best iron play. It's hard to imagine a late career resurgence though.

Piercy appeared unlikely to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs but snuck in after finishing third and T-15 in his last two events of the 2020-21 regular season. Overall, it was a disappointing season, however, as it was his worst finish since 2014 when he only made 12 starts due to injuries. The tour veteran can't be consistently relied on from a fantasy perspective due to a lack of upside at this point of his career.

Other than a T6-T18-T17 stretch in February, the 2019-20 season was a pretty big disappointment for Piercy. He was fortunate to sneak into the playoffs and did not inspire any with his play after the COVID break. Piercy was outside the top-170 in GIR percentage, which is pretty unlike his normally solid ball striking. At 41, a decline is possible, but expect a much better season in 2020-21.

Piercy has won four times on the PGA Tour and while he didn't win this past season, he did pick-up a runner-up and a third-place finish on his way to over $2.6 million in earnings. In his previous two seasons, Piercy failed to crack the $2 million mark, but the two seasons prior, he easily eclipsed that mark. 10 seasons into his career and it's still not clear just how good Piercy is. One thing is clear though, at his current price, he's not a good salary cap option as he's never cracked $3 million in earnings for one season.

Last season was Piercy's 10th full season on the PGA Tour and in that time, he's been a very productive golfer. He's posted four wins, three runner-ups and five third-place finishes. His earnings peaked in 2016 when he nearly cracked $3 million. That season came after a 2015 when he earned more than $2.7 million. Entering the 2016-17 season, Piercy appeared to be trending upward, but he took a step back that season, falling to little more than $1.3 million. He made a bit of a comeback last season when he earned more than $1.8 million, but 2017-18 wasn't quite as good as it appears upon first glance. Piercy did claim his fourth win on the PGA Tour last season, but it came at the Zurich Classic, which is a team event. When on his own, Piercy managed just one top-10 all season. In that sense, you could say that a downward trend continued through last season. Even if you give him full credit for his Zurich Classic win, he still doesn't appear to have much value as a salary cap selection this season.

Piercy was on fire last fall, posting three top-10s during five starts. Among those three top-10s, were two top-5s and needless to say, it looked like Piercy was in for a banner season. Then he teed it up in Hawaii and his game was nowhere in sight. Piercy teed it up 17 times during the 2017 portion of the calendar and managed only one top-10. HIs play in 2017 was a surprise, not only because of his hot start during the fall prior, but because he was also coming off of consecutive seasons above $2.7 million in earnings. Considering he's played well during the majority of the past three seasons, a bounce back seems likely this season.

Piercy's been difficult to peg in his time on the PGA Tour. He's had great years, he's had poor years and everything in-between, but it seems like he's finally stabilized. After posting a career-high in earnings during the 2014-2015 season, Piercy topped that number last season. Piercy's route to nearly $3 million in earnings was quite different last year as opposed to the year prior. Two years ago, Piercy picked-up a win, a runner-up and a third-place finish. Last season, he had no wins, but two runner-ups. It's nice to see a golfer that can produce even when he's not winning and that's what Piercy has going for him. With that in mind, he's an intriguing salary cap play this season. In drafts he should go in the fourth round.

Piercy had a good thing going from 2009-2013, he was comfortably inside the top-125 each year, with the exception of one and there was no reason to think this run would end -- then came the 2013-14 season. Piercy was finally hit by the injury bug and the entire season was a loss. The good news is, he returned later in the year, so he won't have to deal with the rust factor and his number from last year is ridiculously low. He's definitely a "must-have" in salary cap leagues this season.

Played well early, middle and late in the season. That's not something you see from too many players out here that aren't positioned in the top-20. That's probably a good sign for Piercy going forward. Now he just needs to have a couple more high-end finishes and he can really improve upon his number from last year. Piercy is worth a look in salary cap leagues and should go in the 35-45 range in drafts.

Piercy is at a pivotal stage in his career development. He has two wins under his belt and he's put two good seasons together, but most of his earnings have come at events with weaker fields. Not the weakest fields of the year, but events where most of the big guns are absent. If he wants to take the next step he really needs to step up his game when the best players in the world are present. As such, Piercy is priced too high going into this season for salary leagues. In draft leagues, he'll probably go in round four.

If not for a late-season surge, Piercy was looking at the specter of failing to crack $1 million with a win on his resume. Fortunately, Piercy kept some of the momentum from his win at the Reno-Tahoe Open and turned it into two more Top-15 finishes. Prior to his win in Reno, Piercy's lone Top-10 came at the RBC Canadian Open. While he doesn't appear to be a one-hit-wonder, he does have a lot of holes in his resume. The jury is still out on Piercy, but he showed some moxie by playing well after his win last year, which could be a sign of good things to come.

Piercy did not have a spectacular rookie season in 2009, he ended up in the top-25 at eight of the 16 tournaments where he made the cut. Five of those top-25s came in the first two month of the season; and considering Piercy is from Nevada, he might just be partial to the courses out West. Expect Piercy to get off to a good start again this season, but don't be surprised if his game falls off after the first couple months.