2023 Wyndham Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Sedgefield
Sam Burns playing in the southeastern United States always seems like a good bet.
Three of his five career PGA Tour wins have come in this region, as well as a good chunk of his highest finishes.
However, this will be just the second visit to the Wyndham Championship for Burns. His first go-round went fairly well. The former LSU Tiger carded 67-68-65-65 for T-13th in 2020.
Burns was a late addition to the field this week. He’s comfortably into the FedEx Cup Playoffs and just needs a decent showing in the first two rounds coming up to make the Tour Championship.
Still, you can never be too careful. A good week here in North Carolina against a weak field could take the pressure off. Burns also needs to try to impress American Ryder Cup honcho Zach Johnson for a potential captain’s pick.
Burns enters the week at 13th in the American standings. It’s virtually impossible to vault into the top six to earn an automatic spot, so it’s on Burns to finish strong.
He’s bolstered by his appearance on the 2022 Presidents Cup team.
Burns is a winner this season at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. He’s up to five top-10s, including solo sixth at the Valspar Championship where he was going for a third straight title.
The 27-year-old ranks 33rd on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained per round (.799). He’s gaining strokes in every category except for approach. Burns’ main weapon is the putter, where he’s sixth in SG (.640).
Burns has plenty of experience putting on Bermuda grass. I expect him to be rolling birdie putts in bunches this week.