By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Former LSU All-America golfer Sam Burns has learned while playing under the radar at Augusta National.
He put his knowledge to good use Thursday, going out in the early wave, grabbing the lead and finishing in a first-round 5-under par first-place tie with defending champion Rory McIlroy at the Masters.
Burns shot his best round at Augusta, a 67, as he found 11 of 14 fairways, 16 of 18 greens, and made six birdies. He quickly climbed atop the leaderboard with an eagle 3 on the par-5 second hole, and sits atop a star-studded field entering today’s second round.
“I drove it nice. I was able to get it on the green a lot,” he said. “The nice thing about this place is that if you’re putting a lot and not having to pitch around these greens, it makes it a little bit of a stress-free day. That was what I tried to do today – just be patient into the greens, give myself a lot of looks, and I was able to hole some putts.”
The Shreveport native, 29, tees off at 11:32 CDT today. His previous Masters’ best score, an opening 68 in 2023, earned him a first-round tie for sixth that year and was the only prior sub-70 competitive round on one of golf’s most iconic layouts.
But he has filed away plenty of insight from his previous four visits to Augusta National, where he has played 12 competitive rounds, finishing 29th in 2023 and 45th last year sandwiched around two missed cuts in 2022 and 2024.
Along with his driving accuracy, Burns credited his willingness to be patient as key components in Thursday’s round, which was seven shots under the average score posted in the 91-player field.
“Patience is something that you constantly have to work on,” he said. “Especially as someone who likes to compete and try to win, which unfortunately doesn’t happen a lot, I think patience plays a big part of not just golf, but life.
“We’re constantly inconvenienced by something, and so trying to be more patient is good for all of us, especially for me.”
Specifically, keeping an even keel and focusing on the next shot is essential, said Burns, at Augusta National.
“This golf course is so tricky that you try to get lost in your process out there, just try to execute. You start thinking in the past or in the future, it’s not a golf course where you want to do that. For me, (the plan) is go out and execute, have a good process, commit to the shot and accept whatever happens.”
He pounced on the longest holes, and collected a birdie on the fabled par-3 12th hole in Amen Corner, to rise to the top of the leaderboard.
Burns drained a four-foot eagle putt on the par-5 second hole. After dropping a shot on the seventh, he regained it with a birdie on the par-5 eighth. Burns also birdied both par-5s on the back nine (13, 15) and added another on the dangerous 12th guarded by Rae’s Creek, dropping a perfectly-paced 20-footer.
“I think historically people who have success here play the par-5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So, it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said.
He noted that his home course, Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, provides a reasonable replica of Augusta National’s terrain and large, turtle-backed, undulating greens. He certainly looked at home Thursday.
It’s his third lead or shared lead after the last eight major rounds. He was also leading after the second and third rounds of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he ended up tied for seventh after a final-round 78 in drenching rain. The weather won’t be a factor this weekend.
“The past few years we’ve gotten rain at some point in the week, early in the week,” Burns said. “You could definitely see it even from Monday to today how much firmer the greens are. They’re only going to get firmer. I think as the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there, and I think it’s going to be a really good test.”
TV coverage today and Friday is on Golf Channel “Live from The Masters” from 7 a.m.-2 p.m., with Prime Video providing streaming tournament coverage from noon-2 and ESPN from 2-6:30. ESPN has morning coverage from the course but only with cut-ins to live action.
Additional coverage is available on the ESPN App, Masters.com, the Masters app, CBS Sports Network, CBSSports.com and Paramount+.
Weekend coverage is CBS-based. Paramount+ has coverage Saturday and Sunday 11-1, with CBS coming on air from 1 p.m. forward.