2021 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake

Sam Burns is set to make his East Lake debut. Well, at least for the Tour Championship.

The former collegiate stud at LSU has stepped foot on this classic Donald Ross property for the 2015 East Lake Cup.

That’s where he dismantled future Olympian and SEC rival, former Georgia Bulldog Sepp Straka, 4&3 in a match.

Burns did lose his other match to then-USC Trojan and current European Tour member, Sean Crocker, 3&2. Nonetheless, a little course history can only help Burns out against a talented field filled with multiple past Tour Championship qualifiers.

The newly mustachioed Burns also has top notch form in recent weeks to lean on. The 25-year-old Louisianan just recorded his fifth top-25 in his last six starts with a solo eighth at last week’s BMW Championship.

That stretch includes a T-2nd at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational where Burns was a lost playoff away from grabbing his second PGA Tour title of the season.

Burns won his maiden event in the spring at the Valspar Championship. He’s on the precipice of qualifying for his first Ryder Cup and could entice American captain Steve Stricker with a strong showing in Atlanta.

“The only thing I can really do to go play golf, and if Captain Stricker wants to give me an opportunity, I would do anything to be on that team,” Burns was quoted by ASAP Sports during the BMW Championship. “We’ll see what happens.”

Burns starts six shots off the pace of Patrick Cantlay. That will allow him to perhaps play with an aggressive mindset right from the get go.

Burns ranks third on the PGA Tour in birdie average (4.49). He’s also 18th in SG approach (.562) and 12th in SG putting (.544).

Ultimately I see Burns having too much ground to climb to get all the way to the top spot in the FedEx Cup, but a few rounds in the 60s will at least help him improve his standing from where he started the week.