By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
ATLANTA – Sam Burns made a back-nine move Thursday in the opening round of the Tour Championship.
Trouble was, so did his best friend on the PGA Tour.
Already spotted to a 10-under score opening play, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler fired the best round of the day, a six-under 65, and broadened his opening two-shot lead to seven entering today.
Burns, the Shreveport native and Calvary Baptist graduate, was no slouch. He posted five birdies on the back side while carding a nifty 31 for a four-under 67.
It moved him from his starting position in ninth place, at 4-under, to 8-under and a tie for fourth with Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matasuyma and Adam Scott.
In between are Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffle at 9-under, tied for second.
Today, Burns and Clark are paired with a 12:38 (CST) tee time. Golf Channel will have coverage beginning at noon, then give way to NBC for the final two rounds.
Burns, 28, opened with a bogey after a wayward drive on the first hole. He birdied the par-4 fourth to get even but promptly bogeyed the next hole and finished with a 1-over 36 on the first nine.
Then he caught fire, posting birdies at the par-4 10th, the par-3 11th, the par-4 13th, the par-5 16th and the par-4 17th.
That run and the fact that he had the lowest aggregate score of any of the 30 finalists over the two playoff events, the FedEx St. Jude Championship two weeks ago (tied for fifth) and last week’s BMW Championship (tied for second), improved his odds to 30-1 to win.
The top 12 finishers collect at least $1 million. The winner cashes $25 million while the runner-up takes home $12.5 and third place nets $7.5.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com