Sam Burns’ wife Caroline is due to give birth in just over a week.
As former LSU golfer [autotag]Sam Burns[/autotag] competes at Augusta National this week for the Masters, he may be a little preoccupied with something else.
Burns’ wife Carolina is pregnant with a due date just over a week out. According to Golf Digest, Burns has vowed that he will withdraw from the Masters to be with her if she were to go into labor during the event.
He’s not the only one facing a similar predicament. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler — the heavy favorite to win at Augusta again this week — has also promised to withdraw if his wife Meredith, who is due by the end of the month, were to go into labor.
“It’s going to be pretty wild. I don’t think it’s hit either of us quite yet but it’s an exciting time for us as a family,” Scheffler said earlier this year. “It’s been a pretty exciting last seven months or so and we’re looking forward to hopefully getting the baby out of there nice and healthy and with a healthy momma, and then we’ll go from there.”
Burns turned pro in 2017 and has since won six events on the tour, ranking as high as ninth in the world during his career. He’s still searching for his first major title, and he finished tied for 29th in last year’s Masters.
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Here’s the kicker: both Scottie and Sam are playing in the 2024 Masters this week at Augusta. So the big question to ask is this: what happens if either of their wives goes into labor in the middle of one of their rounds?
There’s an answer for that: Golf Channel reports that they would definitely withdraw if it came to that. Do with that information what you will, and take note that they’re on the record saying that.
Scottie Scheffler & Sam Burns both are expecting their babies to be born in the next 1-3 weeks.
Former LSU golfer Sam Burns is set for his third Masters tournament this week.
The Masters is set to tee off at Augusta National later this week. LSU will be represented in the field, with former Tiger Sam Burns making his third Masters appearance.
Burns made some noise last year, shooting a 68 in his opening round. He made the cut and finished tied for 29th.
In his Masters debut in 2022, Burns missed the cut after shooting a 75 and 74 in rounds one and two.
He’s played some good golf recently, finishing in the top 10 in five of his last nine starts. He strung together three top 10 finishes to start 2024 and sits 22nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.
According to FanDuel, his odds to win the Masters are +7000. That makes him a long shot, but crazier things have happened.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3012″ ]
Burns was a two-time All-American at LSU and won national player of the year in 2017.
Texas grad and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is the favorite to take home the green jacket, with his odds to win at +400.
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Close-up photos of the golf equipment stars like Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth are using.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – This week the PGA Tour moved from the frat house atmosphere of TPC Scottsdale to one of the most posh venues on the schedule, Riviera Country Club. Instead of crowds booing bad shots in an arena-like setting, the Genesis Invitational is all about movie stars, a classic course and an ultra-elite field highlighted by Tiger Woods.
Golfweek’s David Dusek was in the practice areas and around the PGA Tour equipment vans this week with his camera and took plenty of close-up photos of the gear being used by the players who are looking to win the $4 million first-place check.
The People’s Open. The Darty — a day party for those unfamiliar with the lingo — in the Desert.
Whatever you call it, the WM Phoenix Open is the PGA Tour’s annual bash at TPC Scottsdale.
And a loaded field has traveled to Arizona this year, including back-to-back defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. He’ll be joined by Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, last week’s 54-hole winner Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick and Min Woo Lee.
Scheffler is the first Tour player this year hoping to make it a turkey, with Tom Kim set to pursue the same feat later this year at the Shriners Children’s Open.
Golf course
TPC Scottsdale | Par 71 | 7,261 yards
Charley Hoffman plays his tee shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2023 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic)
Course history
Course history at TPC Scottsdale for the @WMPhoenixOpen going back to 2016.
-Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total.
-4th (out of 44) most predictive annual course on Tour.
Less than 24 hours after winning a PGA Tour event, Dunlap needs a breather.
Less than 24 hours after winning the American Express, Nick Dunlap needs a breather.
It was a whirlwind 72 holes in La Quinta, California, for the 20-year-old sophomore in his second season of college golf at Alabama. It was a most intense final round as he made two clutch pars on the final two holes to win by a shot, beating a field of professionals to become the first amateur in 33 years to win on the PGA Tour.
Not only did he win, but he did so in record fashion, posting a 29-under total, the lowest since the event was reduced from a 90-hole tournament to 72.
Dunlap was eligible for the $1.5 million prize due to his amateur status but golf fans won’t soon forget the historical achievement.
On Monday, Dunlap, through the PGA Tour communications office, announced that he will not compete in this week’s Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.
He was in the field previously as a sponsor exemption. His AmEx win removed that status from him but as was then in the field as a PGA Tour winner, moving Harrison Endycott in as a sponsor exemption.
A further unrelated sequence of events happened when Justin Thomas withdrew. That got Endycott in the field and opened up a sponsor exemption for Hayden Springer.
Nonetheless, Dunlap is stepping back for the week. He is still pondering whether to accept the PGA Tour card and turn pro or stay in school and try to help Alabama win an NCAA title.
“I’ve always wanted to win a ring with Alabama,” he said Sunday. “But no, everything kind of moving forward, and as far as me turning professional, that’s something that it doesn’t just affect me, it affects a lot of people, and that being my teammates and my coach, you know, they, obviously, probably didn’t think that I would ever consider turning pro after this week.”
Phil Mickelson was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour in 1991.
LA QUINTA, Calif. — From Arnold Palmer’s five tournament wins to David Duval’s iconic final-round 59 to come from behind and win the 1999 event, the American Express has seen history time and time again.
Now, next to Palmer and Duval comes 20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap.
Looking for most of the day like the magic that had vaulted him to a three-shot lead entering the final round had evaporated, the University of Alabama sophomore Dunlap grinded down the stretch for a one-shot victory.
As Dunlap played his final 10 holes in 2 under, Tour veteran Sam Burns faltered with tee shots into the water on the final two holes Sunday at the PGA West Stadium Course. Burns lost the lead with had consecutive double-bogeys and finished four shots back.
Dunlap’s par and Burns’ double bogey on the rock-ringed par-3 17th were enough to give Dunlap the lead after Burns had played steady, consistent golf throughout the day. But Dunlap still needed to scramble for a par on the final hole to stay one shot ahead of Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who played the final four holes in 3-under for a 65. That put Bezuidenhout at 28 under, one shot behind Dunlap, who managed an up-and-down on the 18th hole including a five-foot par putt.
WOW! 🏆
20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap is a PGA TOUR champion.
Dunlap’s 29-under 259 total is the tournament record since the event switched to a 72-hole format in 2012.
Dunlap’s win will resonate at the American Express and across the PGA Tour. Dunlap matches Mickelson’s 1991 win in the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, when Mickelson was 20. Dunlap, also 20 and the reigning U.S. Amateur champion just as Mickelson was 33 years ago, becomes the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 19-year-old Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic.
While Dunlap walks away with no prize money because of his amateur status – Bezuidenhout takes home the $1,512,000 first-place check – it is Dunlap who creates history that won’t soon be forgotten in the desert or on the PGA Tour.
Dunlap is the first player to win as a sponsor exemption since Martin Laird at the 2021 Shriners Hospital event in Las Vegas. In only his fourth professional start, Dunlap made the cut for the first time. He remains only the second player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur, along with Tiger Woods.
“It’s amazing. Actually, I heard his name last year when he won the U.S. Amateur,” Bezuidenhout said. “Yeah, he’s obviously a hell of a player and congrats to him and hopefully he can be out on the PGA Tour soon, and we all can get to play with him.”
Nick Dunlap reacts to winning the 2024 American Express at Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta, California. (Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Dunlap’s play Sunday was not as stellar as it had been the first three days. Having made only one bogey in the first 54 holes, Dunlap double bogeyed the par-4 seventh with a tee shot in a lake and watched Burns make birdie to tie for the lead.
Burns took the lead alone with a birdie on the par-5 11th just as Dunlap was starting to miss a series of short putts for birdies. Dunlap finally caught Burns with a birdie on the par-5 16th, setting up Burns’ collapse in the final two holes.
“Hitting my ball in the water on 7, it tested everything I had. I missed a couple putts that I thought I was going to make,” Dunlap said. “And just kind of like my sports psychologist, Bhrett McCabe, I went over a scenario for today probably a million times and it’s never going to go how you plan, and it didn’t. I’m so happy to be standing here.”
A flurry of players were still chasing Dunlap and Burns, including Kevin Yu, who tied for the lead at 28 under but bogeyed the 18th hole to finish at 27 under with a final-round 63. Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas also finished at 27 under to tie for third, with Thomas struggling at times on the way to a 68 and Schauffele just running out of holes in his 65.
“I knew I had to shoot a low weekend, and I was able to,” Schauffele said. “I was too far behind after that round of 3 under at Nicklaus Tournament. In a shootout like this, you can’t afford to shoot 3 under in any round.”
Sam Burns talked with Golfweek’s David Dusek about this week’s LSU-Alabama football game, trash talking Justin Thomas and more.
Sam Burns played his college golf at LSU, a school just 10 minutes down the road from his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana.
Golfweek‘s equipment guru David Dusek caught up with Burns to talk about the school’s upcoming rivalry football game with Alabama, what it was like playing golf at LSU and what the environment was like in the locker room during his college days.
“Oh, yeah,” Burns said when smiling after being asked if he and Justin Thomas were sending each other texts this week (Thomas played golf in Tuscaloosa). “There’s been many comments exchanged.”
Set your alarms because you won’t want to miss these final matches.
Set your alarms, folks. You don’t want to miss these final 12 matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup.
European captain Luke Donald and American captain Zach Johnson announced their picks for the 12 Sunday singles matches and a handful are appointment television, no matter the time.
Team Europe holds a 10½-5½ lead after the first four sessions, but the momentum appears to have swung back toward the U.S. after the Americans claimed Saturday fourballs, 3-1. The Europeans need four points to win the Cup, while the U.S. needs at least 8½ to retain.
Check out who’s playing who in the final 12 singles matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.
After winning the Saturday afternoon fourballs 3-1, the U.S. trails 10 ½ to 5 ½ and will need to erase the largest deficit in Ryder Cup history if it is going to retain the Cup.
But we’re saying there’s a chance, especially after Patrick Cantlay birdied the final two holes, including a 30-foot birdie putt at 18, to flip his match.
“Hopefully have a ray of light and we can build on this session and try and pull off a big victory tomorrow,” Cantlay said.
Two years ago, the U.S. led 11-5 at Whistling Straits before cruising to a 19-9 victory. No team has rallied from more than a 10-6 deficit, but the U.S. only needs to reach 14 points to retain the Cup. In both 1999 and 2012, the winning side earned 8 ½ points in Sunday singles.
The U.S. showed some life winning the first two matches, but the Euros bounced back to win the third match and inch closer to extending the U.S. losing streak on European soil, which dates to 1993. It looked as if it would be a split of the session. That is until Cantlay’s heroics.
“Feels like we have momentum and we go kind of into the locker room laughing a little bit which just feels good,” Max Homa said.
