By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
With an incredible $25 million winner’s prize at stake next weekend in the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta, there’s no better time for Sam Burns to be on a heater.
Sunday, the Shreveport native and Calvary Baptist graduate nearly won the FedEx Cup’s penultimate event, the BMW Championship, finishing in a second-place tie to follow a fifth-place finish a week earlier at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first in the Tour’s three-step playoffs.
Burns was the clubhouse leader Sunday on the Castle Pines Country Club course, a PGA Tour record 8,130-yard layout at altitude. He fired a seven-under 65, best among the 48 players, to zoom to 11-under.
It was nearly 12-under. Pitching out of a greenside bunker on the final hole, Burns finished a foot shy, on line, of draining the shot for a birdie.
“I knew it was a good line and I knew it was a pretty good weight. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t,” he said, after falling to the ground in disappointment as the shot stopped short. “Yeah, (my reaction) was a little dramatic.”
That would have posted him at 12-under, the winning total by Keegan Bradley. Burns, who now lives in Choudrant and plays out of Squire Creek Country Club there, had eight birdies Sunday but bogeyed the par-5 14th.
His driving was best in the field Sunday, leading in fairway accuracy with 12 of 14 fairways hit. Burns was No. 2 in putting, holing 133 feet worth on the greens.
The strong finish jumped him into ninth in the FedEx Cup standings, same as his career-best finish last year after the Tour Championship. It means he will start at 4-under Thursday in Atlanta, with his pal Scottie Scheffler, the Cup standings leader, opening the tournament at 10-under.
Burns pocketed $1,503,333 with his three-way tie, matched by Adam Scott and Ludvig Amberg. It raised the former LSU All-American’s season winnings to $6.1 million and his career earnings to $27.9 million with his 16th career top five finish and the 36th Top 10 showing.
The 28-year-old will make his fourth straight Tour Championship appearance among the 30 most successful players of the season. Along with the $25 million winner’s share, the runner-up gets $12.5 million, third place earns $7.5 million and the top 12 finishers win at least a million. A $550,000 payout goes to the 30th-place golfer.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com