BATON ROUGE – Former LSU golfer and Louisiana native, Sam Burns, will compete in his 5th PGA Championship tournament this weekend at Valhalla Golf club in Louisville, Kentucky.
The former All-American and 2017 National Player of the Year will tee off at 2:35 PM alongside Patrick Reed and veteran Padraig Harrington. Burns’ last time in the winner’s circle was in 2023 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event where he prevailed over PGA tour standout Cameron Young in a playoff.
Burns in the field
Burns has put together a solid campaign in 2024 with top ten finishes at the American Express in La Quinta, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, WM Phoenix Open, and Genesis Invitational. The 5 time tour winner has played eleven events and made nine cuts in 2024 while racking up approximately 2.5 million dollars in earnings this season. Burns is coming off of a T13 finish in the Wells Fargo Championship where he completed the weekend with a final tally of two under par.
The former Tiger will look to earn his first major championship this weekend at the historic Valhalla Golf Club. The field will be filled with the best competition the game has to offer, and Burns is among the top of the field. In 2022, Burns finished T20 at the PGA Championship to claim his best performance in a major to date.
The 27 year old is the 27th ranked golfer in the world and currently holds 34th place in the Fedex Cup. Burns is also 27th in total strokes gained on tour with an average of 0.729 and 31st in putting strokes gained with an average of 0.398. Burns is scoring well this year as he is currently 22nd on tour in scoring average with an impressive tally of 69.59. Another notable statistic in the Shreveport product’s game is his birdie average of 4.59 per round which is ranked fourth on tour currently.
Burns at the PGA Championship
Burns made his first PGA Championship appearance in 2019 where he finished T29. His next finish at the major was a T20 in 2022, and that was followed by a missed cut in 2023. In his best major finish in his career, Burns put up a one over par performance that allowed him to crack the top twenty and strengthen his case as an elite golfer on tour.
Tigers at the PGA Championship
The LSU Men’s golf program has produced a plethora of talent over the years, and the PGA Championship is a tournament where multiple Bayou Bengals have seen success. Two Tigers have won the event, making it LSU’s most successful major of all time.
In 1960, Jay Hebert won the 42nd PGA Championship in Akron, Ohio with a score of one over par. Hebert went on to finish in the top ten of the tournament two more times with placements of T5 in 1958 and 7th in 1957. In 2001, Tiger legend David Toms won the 83rd PGA Championship in Duluth, Georgia with a score of fifteen under par defeating runner-up Phil Mickelson. Toms racked up three more top ten finishes in the PGA Championship with his impressive performances of T10 in 2005, T4 in 2011, and 7th in 2013.
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. Burns 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 PGA Championship will be shared by CBS and ESPN, with ESPN airing the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday and CBS taking the weekend.
Thurs, May 16
- ESPN+ 7:00AM-12:00PM
- ESPN 12:00PM-8:00PM
Fri, May 17
- ESPN+ 7:00AM-1:00PM
- ESPN 1:00PM-8:00PM
Sat, May 18
- ESPN+ 8:00AM-10:00AM
- ESPN 10:00AM-1:00PM
CBS 1:00PM-7:00PM
Sun, May 19
- ESPN+ 8:00AM-10:00AM
- ESPN 10:00AM-1:00PM
CBS 1:00PM-7:00PM