JOURNAL SPORTS
OAKMONT, Pa. – Sam Burns and Philip Barbaree Jr. have been teeing it up together since they were kids in Shreveport. They’ll do it again today with a little more at stake than in their usual practice rounds these days back home in north Louisiana.
Burns and Barbaree, former LSU teammates, take on what is being billed as one of the toughest tracks ever for the U.S. Open, storied Oakmont Country Club.
Barbaree will tee off today at 7:57 a.m. CDT, with Burns in the afternoon wave at 12:14 p.m. CT.
On its website, Oakmont Country Club bills itself as “The ultimate examination of championship golf.” This classic course plays to a length of 7,372 yards and a par of 70.
Burns, after a PGA Tour career-best 62 sent him into a playoff last Sunday 18 under par at the RBC Canadian Open, is regarded as a potential champion by some analysts, including a panel at The Athletic.
Barbaree is also coming in on something of a heater, having notched a top 5 in his last start on the PGA Americas tour and returning for his second Open appearance after posting the low 36-hole score of 11 under last week at the West Palm Beach USGA sectional qualifier.
The 28-year-old Burns has worked out of a funk since early April and is presently 29th on the Fed Ex Cup standings with three top 10s this year. The resident of Choudrant in Lincoln Parish has four top 15 finishes in his last six starts.
Along with his stellar performance and runner-up finish last week at the RBC Canadian Open, Burns was fifth in the Byron Nelson Classic. He has earned $3.5 million this season on the PGA Tour and last week’s $1 million haul pushed him over $31 million in career earnings since 2019.
Burns has won five times on the PGA Tour, the last in 2023. This will be his seventh appearance in the U.S. Open with his best finish two years ago in 2024 at T9.
Barbaree, 26, has played six events this year and made four cuts on the PGA Tour Americas with his best finish in his last start of T3 in the Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championships in Bogota, Columbia. He shot 69-64 in the rain delayed West Palm Beach qualifier at Emerald Dunes Golf Club to earn his trip to Oakmont.
His wife, Chloe, whom he married in March, has been his caddy for over a year now and the sight of the two together on the course has become standard. She will be on the bag for the U.S. Open.
In 2015 Barbaree won the final match of the U.S. Junior Amateur, where he stormed back from 5 down with eight holes to play to win in 37 holes. He enrolled a semester early at LSU in Spring 2017, was teammates with Burns and turned pro a semester early, halfway through his fifth year, in November 2020.
Following his second college season, he qualified for the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he missed the cut.
Live coverage from Oakmont begins on USA Network at 5:30 a.m. CDT until 4 p.m. when coverage will switch to Peacock until 7 p.m. CT. Friday, coverage begins on Peacock at 5:30 a.m. CT with NBC covering the tournament from noon-6 p.m. with Peacock back from 6-7 p.m.
Weekend coverage will begin on USA Network and then move to NBC. The top 60 players and ties advance to the final 36 holes Saturday and Sunday.