By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
ST. LOUIS – In his summer-long run on the PGA Tour, former LSU All-American Sam Burns has overcome slow starts. For example, he was 1-over through 18 holes at the U.S. Open, and roared back to be runner-up. At the British Open, he was 3-over after the first round, and finished third.
Thursday’s opening 1-over 71 at the 50-man BMW Championship isn’t the desired start in the second event of the three-round FedEx Cup playoffs, but it’s hardly a significant stumble. Especially when the Choudrant resident is already assured of advancing to next week’s 30-player Tour Championship thanks to his No. 6 ranking in the FedEx Cup points race coming into this week’s play.
Burns is coming off a third-place tie in the playoff opener, the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week in Memphis. The runaway winner there, Scottie Scheffler, shot 2-over 72 Thursday. Burns is tied for 37th among the 50 qualifiers and Scheffler is tied for 44th entering today’s second round.
He hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation and nine of 14 fairways, averaging 338 yards on his drives, sixth in the field. But he had the worst average shots gained on approach, minus 2.88 shots, ranking 50 out of 50 players. His season average is 31st on tour, plus .392.
In Thursday’s round, Burns was 1-under until the last two holes, when he bogeyed the par-5 17th and the par-4 18th.
He started the day with an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-4 first hole but double bogeyed the par-4 second. After a 15-footer on the par-3 sixth got him back to even for the round, Burns bogeyed the par-4 10th and slipped back to 1-over.
The Shreveport native hit a 108-yard approach on the par-4 14th to three feet for a birdie to get back to even, then moved to 1-under with a 14-foot birdie on the 229-yard par-3 16th, but wasn’t able to sustain the momentum.
Burns and his playing parter, Wyndham Clark, tee off at 1:33 today at Bellerive Country Club. Golf Channel coverage begins at 2 o’clock. Clark is among five players atop the leaderboard at 6-under, including Rory McIlroy.
All 50 players continue into the weekend. Golf Channel will carry Saturday and Sunday play from noon-2 p.m., with CBS picking up the rest of the afternoon action.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com