By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
ATLANTA – With three birdies in a six-hole stretch in the middle of his final round Sunday at the Tour Championship, Sam Burns was not only in position for another top 10 finish, but was only three shots off the lead.
Then East Lake Golf Club and windy conditions did to Burns what it most of the 29 finalists in the FedEx Cup playoffs on Sunday – and the Choudrant resident backed up on the leaderboard.
Burns was 4-over on the last eight holes, beginning with a bogey on the par-3 11th. He had to take a pair of penalty strokes, one from a ball into the water hazard next to the island green on the par-3 15th, and the other on an unplayable lie in a bunker on the 17th on the way to a double bogey.
The damage dumped him to a tie for 18th, nine spots below where he started Sunday’s round. Burns finished with a two-over 72 and 7-under for the week (66-68-67-72 – 273), earning a $460,000 share of the $40 million purse.
But in the PGA Tour’s restructured bonus system, taking into account season-long play, it was a better day for the 30-year-old Shreveport native. He collected a $1.7 million bonus and will receive another $700,000 in deferred money.
He stands ninth in the Official World Golf Rankings and is fourth in the U.S. Presidents Cup rankings. The top six, once officially confirmed, receive automatic berths on the USA roster for that international competition Sept. 24-27 in Medinah, Ill., at fabled Medinah Country Club.
It will be his fifth straight international competition at the professional level.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won the $10 million first place prize, and added another $23 million in bonus money, as he shot a 4-under 66 in the final round and won with a 16-under par score.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com