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Sam Burns went back-to-back at the Snake Pit, and he’s now won three times in his last 22 starts.
Yes, the former LSU standout is on quite a roll.
Burns outlasted Davis Riley after draining a 33-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole, the 463-yard, par-4 16th hole at the Copperhead Course, which is the start of the Snake Pit, a lethal three-hole stretch at the Valspar Championship.
Because he won the 2021 Valspar in May, his three wins have come in the last 10 months. He joins Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama and Cameron Smith in collecting three wins within the last 12 months.
Burns now finds himself ranked 10th in the world, his highest ranking to date. In the process, he knocked Dustin Johnson out of the top 10 for the first time in seven years. Burns is 25 and so now the top 10 golfers in the OWGR are all 32 or younger.
After his round, Burns was asked if winning back-to-back titles makes you special.
“I don’t feel special, but it feels special to do it,” he said, making sure to mention his caddie Travis Perkins. “I think it’s really cool for Travis and I to get to experience our first win together here last year and then to do it again this year is so cool. I still think it’s just, it hasn’t really hit me yet.”
Having confidence in the final round is a critical component.
“When you’re coming down the stretch and you’re near the lead and you want to have this belief that you can do it, but sometimes it’s tough when you haven’t done it yet. So I think for me today it was just only thing I can control is what I’m doing, how I’m reacting to the shots, everything else is out of my control,” he said. “It was more important to just kind of stay in my little circle, Travis and I just do our thing and at the end of the day we’ll add ’em up and hopefully it’s good enough.”
In this week’s video, the Caddie Network’s John Rathouz and Perkins discuss Burns’ hot putter. “Bermuda Burns”, as he’s known, was eighth in strokes gained: putting during the week at the Valspar.
“He putts slopey greens very well,” Perkins says. “That’s just one of Sam’s strengths. We do a lot of work throughout the week trying to make a certain amount of footage during practice rounds.”
Perkins was also on the bag in October 2020 when Burns won the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.
Burns jumps from ninth to fourth on the PGA Tour’s 2020-21 money list with $3,953,031. Smith leads with $5,797,375.
The equipment
The golf gear Burns used to win includes a Callaway Rogue ST LS Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees) driver, Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (17 degrees) fairway club, Callaway Apex TCB (4-9) irons, Callaway Apex TCB (PW, AW) wedges, the Odyssey O-Works Black 7S putter and Callaway Chrome Soft X golf balls.
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