LSU's Sam Burns set to tee off at The Masters
Former LSU stand-out golfer, Sam Burns, will be making his third appearance at The Masters this week. Burns will tee it up at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday and Friday with plans of advancing to the weekend.
Burns will tee off in round one on Thursday at 2:42 p.m. CST alongside PGA Tour vet, Adam Scott and the 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in Cameron Young. Burns’ last win was earned in the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event where he won in a final over Young.
Burns On Tour
This season Burns recorded top-10 finishes at the American Express in La Quinta, at Pebble Beach, at the WM Phoenix Open and at The Genesis Invitational Los Angeles to start 2024. The Choudrant native is ranked 24th in FedEx Cup points on the PGA Tour and is currently ranked as the No. 22 golfer by the Official World Golf Rankings. Burns has only missed one cut this season, his last outing at the Valspar Championship. Burns’ efforts this year have already earned him over $2.1 million dollars.
The former Tiger will look to earn his first win at a major this week. His best finish in 13 major starts is a tie for 20th at the 2022 PGA Championship. Burns has all the tools he needs to win a major but the historically difficult course at Augusta National stands in his way.
The 27-year old is 22nd in total strokes gained and ranked 21st in putting with an average of 0.542 strokes gained on the putting surface. He holds a scoring average of 70.647 that ranks 26th.
In 2023, he qualified for his third consecutive Tour Championship at East Lake after winning the Match Play in Austin, finishing sixth in two title defenses in Tampa and Fort Worth and recording additional top 20s in the Memorial Tournament, Scottish Open and a playoff event in Chicago later in the season. He also made his debut as a member of the United States Ryder Cup team last year in Italy.
Burns At The Masters
In Burns first appearance at the Masters he missed the cut after shooting a 3-over 75 in round one and a 2-over 74 in round two. In last year’s tournament Burns made his first cut at Augusta with a 4-under 68 in the opening round that was followed by a 1-under 71 in round two. Over the weekend, Burns went on to card a 6-over 78 in round three and an even par of 72 on Sunday to finish tied for 29th.
LSU At The Masters
Two former Tigers have finished in the top ten at The Masters. Jay Hebert earned four top ten finishes in his 15 appearances at Augusta National. Hebert finished 10th in 1957, T-9th in 1958, T-8th in 1959, and T-10th in 1966. Hebert only missed the cut one time at The Masters. More recently, David Toms finished in the top ten three times in his 15 Masters appearances. Toms earned his highest finish in his debut at tied for 6th in 1998. Toms placed tied for 8th in 2003 and finished 9th in 2007.
Burns At LSU
Burns played two seasons with the Tigers before electing to turn professional following his sophomore season in the summer of 2017. Burns finished his career with a 71.13 scoring average in 27 tournament appearances and set LSU’s single-season scoring record with a career-low 70.05 stroke average as a sophomore in 2016-17. Was named the NCAA Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year and a PING First-Team All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America. He was also named the SEC Player of the Year and a First-Team All-SEC selection in 2017. He is a two-time All-American and also earned PING Honorable Mention All-America honors as a freshman in 2015-16.
How To Watch
The TV coverage for the 2024 Masters will be shared between ESPN and CBS, with ESPN airing the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, and CBS taking the third and final rounds on the weekend.
Wednesday, April 10 (Par 3 Contest): 2-4 p.m. (ESPN)
Thursday, April 11: 2-6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, April 12: 2-6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Saturday, April 13: 2-6 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, April 14: 1-6 p.m. (CBS)
