SOUTHPORT, England — In the aftermath of his close call at last month’s U.S. Open, when he was playing the best of the contenders on Sunday but couldn't quite catch Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns couldn't hold back the tears. His father was there, and the 29-year-old PGA Tour pro badly wanted to win his first major dad on Father's Day. What also came into play was the sheer exhaustion of battling Shinnecock Hills for four days and missing glory by a single stroke. Maybe intuitively he knew there would be another chance—probably multiple chances—but in the moment, it's hard to imagine when it will come.
What Burns didn’t imagine is that it would happen here, at the Open Championship, just a few weeks after that disappointment. It's not that he didn't believe in myself, but that he literally had not planned to come. He and his wife Caroline were expecting their second child the week before the Open, and Burns had decided not to play. Instead, though, that child—daughter Belle—came earlier than expected, and even though he was hesitant to leave, Caroline actually encouraged him to do just that. He even phoned his friend Scottie Scheffler, who offered some encouragement, and when his wife explicitly told him that she had things under control on the home front, he decided to head out—and leaving was, as he expected, very hard.
After an uncomfortable plane ride, his practice round was a disaster, and on Thursday he finished out an otherwise promising day by making bogey on his final three holes. An opening 73 on a gettable course is bad news, but it had one nice counter-effect: It freed him up mentally. (It didn't hurt that Caroline sent him another encouraging text: "You need to be where your feet are.") On Friday, he became the third man to shoot a 62 at the Open Championship, and Saturday, he kept the ride going in the midst of the chaotic Bryson show, shooting a 65 alongside DeChambeau to take a two-shot lead heading into the final round.
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This will be the second time he's held the 54-hole lead at a major, and that's a big part of the story that defines what happens tomorrow. At the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont, he led Adam Scott by a shot, but faltered down the stretch and shot 78 as J.J. Spaun took the trophy. That was a discouraging day, but he seemed to have learned something ahead of Shinnecock this year, where he started behind Wyndham Clark but played an excellent round and came just a made putt on 17 or 18 from forcing a playoff. So what did he learn, and can he take it with him tomorrow at Birkdale?
"I felt like I played a bit too aggressive at times," he said of his major experience, "and I think at some of these golf courses you're penalized a little bit more than a typical tour golf course...I think I hadn't quite learned that the hard way yet. It took a bit longer for me."
Of course, it's never a bad thing to have a guy like Scheffler as a constant silent mentor.
"It helped that I got to play a lot of golf with the best player on the planet and kind of watch what he does," he said. "I mean, he's far and beyond the best person that does that. I mean, he just, he makes so few mistakes, and he doesn't take on unnecessary risks very often, if ever, and seems to always hit the correct shot in the moment."
Burns never really asked Scheffler for advice, he said, but he did a lot of observing, and his trajectory has been evident. Heading into tomorrow, there are a few good signs. For one thing, he's never led by two shots before, and for another, the five men below him on the scoreboard have never won a major either. His older brother made the trip to keep him company, he has the full support of his family back home, and he knows, as he said, that no matter what happens on Sunday, "life's going to move on."
Still, there's no hiding behind the reality of pressure, and just because he didn't expect to even be here, much less leading after Saturday, doesn't mean the reality won't set in. He knows from experience that it's physically and mentally taxing to compete for a major, and no amount of perspective or support or belief can hit a good golf shot for you. At a course like Birkdale, there will be players making runs, and he'll have to step up and surpass them all. He hasn't done that yet in his career, but his trajectory is moving in the right direction. His moment awaits.
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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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