By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Shreveport native Sam Burns is taking a break from the PGA Tour this week, hoping it’s the pause that refreshes.
He’ll be back in action next week as the FedEx Cup playoffs begin in Memphis with the FedEx St. Jude Championship, followed a week later by the BMW Championship near Baltimore, and culminating with the top 30 pros in the points standings teeing it up at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
While high finishes are always the goal, they have added value this time of year. The race to make the 12-man USA Ryder Cup team is coming down to the wire and Burns needs to finish with a flourish to earn one of the six at-large slots that captain Keegan Bradley will choose.
Burns is 15th on the Ryder Cup points list. He stands 22nd in the FedEx Cup points tally and is 23rd in the Official World Golf Rankings.
He hasn’t dipped despite mediocre finishes in his last three outings: 47th in the Genesis Scottish Open, 45th at the British Open two weeks ago, and 61st last week at the 3M Open in Minnesota. That last finish, not on a links-style track and coming where he was 12th last season, might dampen Burns’ bid unless he can approach what he did last year in the PGA playoffs.
After a fifth place in Memphis in 2024, he was runner-up at the BMW, and 12th at the Tour Championship. That helped him earn a spot in his third straight international competition, the Presidents Cup. He is bidding for a second Ryder Cup team berth.
Bradley is 10th in the Ryder Cup standings and is expected to be a playing captain. General speculation is that there are perhaps a dozen pros contending for 2-3 at large Ryder Cup roster spots to fill out the USA card.
In the mix: No. 11 Maverick McNealy, No. 12 Brian Harman, Andrew Novak at 13th, No. 14 Patrick Cantlay, and Burns at 15. Wyndham Clark, Lucas Glover, Daniel Berger, Cameron Young and the red-hot Chris Gotterup, a New Jersey native, are next in the standings to make the American team playing on home turf at Bethpage Black on Long Island Sept. 26-28.
The standings do not dictate the captain’s choices. Burns’ putting, although he’s slipped from No 1 to No. 3 in total putting on the Tour standings, is as good as it gets in the game, making him a valuable team member in the various Ryder Cup formats.
He is sixth on Tour with 12 consecutive cuts made, showing his consistency, another virtue.
Undoubtedly, the Calvary Baptist and LSU product is honing his game at home on Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, preparing for the trip to Memphis and what he plans to be a season-ending surge.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com