2022 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake

Sam Burns hasn’t lit it up in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but a pair of solid results keep him within shouting distance of the ultimate prize.

The former LSU tiger finished T-20th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-19th last week at the BMW Championship.

Burns was steady Eddie in Delaware with rounds of 69-69-70-70. He made no double bogeys or worse all week and ranked eighth in strokes gained around the green (2.085).

Burns’ ball striking and putting stats weren’t up to standard last week. I expect those to improve now that the southern boy is back on Bermuda grass, a surface on which he’s consistently played well on before.

The 26-year-old ranks 21st on the PGA Tour in SG tee to green per round (1.035) and 11th in SG putting (.539).

Burns is starting five shots back and in fifth place.

He’ll have to play aggressively this week to make up ground.

Burns is seventh in birdies per round (4.36).

Burns is making his second Tour Championship appearance. The 2021 debutant recorded rounds of 71-70-69-68 to finish T-18th in the net leaderboard and T-17th gross. That means he should shoot 67-66-65-64 and walk away with the title, right?

I don’t see that linear improvement quite playing out. However, Burns will finish in the top 10 and contend for his fourth PGA Tour title of the season and fifth of his career.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Burns won the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall, and in 2022 defended his Valspar Championship title and added a trophy at the Charles Schwab Challenge.