JOURNAL SPORTS
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Making birdies in the opening round of The Masters was no problem for Sam Burns on Thursday afternoon.
Making double bogies was.
The 28-year-old Shreveport native poured in six birdies, tying for fifth in the 95-golfer field. But he also made three double bogies, ranking in a tie for 90th.
Those three troublesome holes spoiled a potentially dynamic day for Burns, who carded a 1-over 73 and is tied for 38th entering today’s second round. Barring a slide, he appears to be positioned to make his second cut in four starts at Augusta National.
Burns and his playing partners, Sahith Theegala (T27, even par 72) and Sepp Straka (T87, 6-over 78), tee off today at 9:37 a.m. in Round 2.
The Calvary Baptist alumnus, an All-American and collegiate player of the year at LSU, had one of his better ball-striking days of 2025. After missing the cut in his last three starts, including last week’s Valero Texas Open, Burns hit 10 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens. His drives averaged 298 yards.
Now living in Choudrant and playing out of Squire Creek Country Club in Lincoln Parish, Burns started badly with a double bogey on the first hole. He birdied the par-5 second, but had another double bogey on the difficult fifth. Again, he bounced right back with a birdie on six, and added two more on holes 7 and 9 to finish the front side even par.
He stumbled beginning the back nine, carding a bogey on 10 and a double on 11. True to form, he birdied the epic par-3 12th hole, and averted disaster on 13 by making par out of the creek bed in front of the par-5 green. Burns added a birdie on 17 and parred 18.
His 1-over was just three shots out of seventh place. Justin Rose posted his record fifth first-round lead at The Masters with a sparkling 7-under 65.
Round 2 will be televised over-the-air on ESPN from 2-6:30 p.m. with coverage Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 p.m. on CBS. There will be select coverage of holes and groups on Masters.com all weekend, and ESPN+ for today’s round. Coverage of the final two rounds will begin on Paramount+ from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.