Scott Piercy on leaderboard in second Masters

Scott Piercy is in the top five and will tee off in one of today’s final pairings, but it won’t surprise him if he’s an afterthought for many Mas­ters Tournament viewers.

“That’s just my whole career, under the radar,” said Piercy, 37. “I’ve been trending in the right direction, I would like to say. I feel good about my game, and the things I’ve been working on have held up so far.”

After 70 on Thursday, Piercy’s even-par 72 moved him into the top five.

A 13-foot birdie putt on No. 2 and a 22-footer on No. 3 briefly took him to 4-under early in Friday’s round.

Though he bogeyed Nos. 7, 11 and 16, he also had a 14-foot birdie putt on No. 13.

In his previous Masters appearance in 2013, Piercy made the cut by shooting 75-69, but he closed with 78-75 to tie for 54th.

“First time at Augusta, I played with Tiger,” Piercy said. “Fifteen people deep, that’s not your normal PGA Tour thing. I’ve learned a lot since then. I feel like
I’m more of a complete player.”

Piercy tied for fifth at the 2013 PGA Championship but had only one other top-30 finish in 10 other starts at majors going into this week.

Before arriving in Au­gus­ta, however, Piercy had three solid tournaments in a row, finishing tied for 17th at the WGC-Cadillac Cham­pionship, coming in second in his group at the WGC-Match Play and then tying for 19th at the Shell Houston Open.

Piercy’s strong position after two days at the Masters is due to his par-5 efforts. After going eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie Thursday, the Las Vegas native went birdie-par-birdie-par in the second round.

Three years after his first Masters, Piercy has more weekend rounds.

“Any time you can be here is awesome,” he said. “It’s nice to be back, and hopefully I can do some damage this weekend.”