By ROY LANG III, Journal Sports
Sam Burns believed he deserved a spot on last year’s Ryder Cup team. Ultimately, he wasn’t selected. Now, it appears he’s not going to give the folks in charge of the international team events a choice.
Burns enters the final week of the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs this week, but he already has a fall date for Charlotte, N.C. The former LSU and Calvary Baptist star was announced Monday as one of six Americans to earn an automatic berth on the 2022 Presidents Cup squad.
The event, set for Sept. 20-25 at Quail Hollow Club, will feature the U.S. against the “Rest of the World,” foreign players not eligible for the Ryder Cup. Burns will represent the United States in team play for the first time as a professional (he was a member of the 2014 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team and the 2017 U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup Team).
Burns, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this season, finished fourth on the U.S. Presidents Cup points list. The other automatic qualifiers: Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau.
U.S. captain Davis Love III will name six wild-card selections on Sept. 7.
The International Team has eight automatic qualifiers: Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Joohyung Kim, Mito Pereira, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Corey Conners and Adam Scott.
The rosters could change if any qualified players bolt for LIV Golf.
The Shreveport native hasn’t considered the option.
“I fully support the PGA Tour, 100 percent,” Burns said. “It was a pretty easy decision for me when all this kind of started because I went back to and thought about when I was a kid growing up and being on the putting green and having a chance to, in my imagination, win a PGA Tour event, to win a major.”
Burns, 26, will make his second appearance at the Tour Championship held at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta. When play begins Thursday, Burns will start the event at 5 under, five strokes behind leader Scheffler.
The PGA Tour uses a handicapped scoring system to determine the FedExCup champion. Three other players will begin the tournament ahead of Burns: Cantlay (8 under), Will Zalatoris (7 under) and Schauffele (6 under). The field’s other 25 players will start in Burns’ rear-view mirror.
Burns finished 18th in the FedExCup in his only other Tour Championship appearance (2021).
“It’s been a good year on the golf course — some highs and lows in there,” Burns said. “I didn’t really know what to expect coming off last year. I knew I was playing well.”
Career year
Sam Burns’ 2021-22 season update
Category (PGA Tour rank)
Wins: 3 (2nd)
Earnings: $7.07 million (7th)
Top-10s: 8 (7th)
Scoring average: 69.67 (10th)
Strokes-gained, putting (average per round): .539 (11th)
Contact Roy at roylangiii@yahoo.com