By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Former LSU All-American golfer Sam Burns entered Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Open as one of the players expected to contend, and he quickly showed why.
Burns birdied two of his first four holes to jump into the lead among the morning tee times. But he slipped back with three bogeys, carding a 1-over 71 at Shinnecock Hills to stand in a tie for 29th in the 155-man field.
His threesome tees off in the afternoon today, at 12:51 CDT. Seven of the top eight players on the leaderboard played in the afternoon round Thursday, including five who were still on the course when play halted at dusk – led by Wyndham Clark, four shots clear of the rest of the field with a 6-under card and two holes left.
A two-hour fog delay Thursday kept Round 1 from being completed.
A look at his scorecard indicates Burns, the 29-year-old Shreveport native, had a lot going right and ran into trouble on three of the four toughest holes on the course.
He ranked second in the field by hitting 13 of 14 fairways. He found 12 of 18 greens in regulation, 27th overall. Burns stood fifth in strokes gained off the tee with his driving accuracy.
But he was 101st in shots gained on approaches, and 103rd on shots gained in the short game. Burns ranks fourth in putting this season on the PGA Tour, but Shinnecock’s notoriously challenging turtlebacked greens mitigated his strength Thursday. His 31 putts were 97th in the field.
Playing the back nine first, Burns laced his tee shot on the 155-yard 11th hole to six feet and drained the putt to get under par. On the 367th-yard 13th, he sank a 7-footer to get to 2-under.
His first bogey came on the 620-yard 16th, where he had his only three-putt, from 32 feet on a hole that was fourth-toughest to play Thursday.
Burns slipped to even par on the 474-yard fourth hole – the toughest for the field Thursday — after his only missed fairway of the round. He didn’t recover onto the green out of a fairway bunker and two-putted from 18 feet.
The last bogey came on No. 7, a 180-yard par 3 that was third-hardest Thursday, when his tee shot sailed over the green and he two putted from 21 feet.
Defending champion and tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler finished at 2-over 72 Thursday.
Burns, who lives in Choudrant and plays out of Squire Creek Country Club there, is aiming for his third straight top 10 finish at the U.S. Open. He was ninth in 2024, then held the lead in the final round last year before winding up seventh.
Today’s TV coverage is on Peacock throughout the day beginning at 6:30 a.m., with NBC picking up coverage at 1:30.
USA Network will have morning coverage on the weekend rounds with NBC and Peacock taking over at noon each day.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com