2024 Valspar Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Innisbrook

There’s no better horse for course play this week than Sam Burns.

He put up an admirable effort last year going for his third straight Valspar Championship. Burns settled for solo sixth after rounds of 69-73-70-67.

The former LSU Tiger has finished inside the top 30 in all five visits to Innisbrook.

Burns’ first triumph on the Copperhead course came in 2021. His maiden PGA Tour title came by virtue of rounds of 67-63-69-68 (-17) to come up one shy of matching Vijay Singh’s tournament 72-hole record in 2004.

“I think these greens are all Bermuda and in the past we have had some overseed in there and these are straight Bermuda and that's what I grew up on. So I'm just comfortable around those,” Burns was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2021. “I think just playing on them every day back home, you're used to seeing grain, you kind of don't even think about it, but you know it's there and you're kind of calculating it in. So I think I just feel comfortable on these greens.”

In 2022, the Louisianan reached 17-under once again (64-67-67-69) to reach a playoff with Davis Riley, who Burns trailed by three entering the day. Burns went par-birdie in sudden death to get the job done.

It’s been a bit of a bizarro 2024 for Burns. He played great on the West Coast swing where he usually struggles, posting T-6th at The American Express, 10th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, T-3rd at the WM Phoenix Open, and T-10th at the Genesis Invitational.

Short of a win, that’s about all Burns could have asked for on courses and grass types he struggles on. He also had something to prove after being one of the weak links last fall for the American Ryder Cup team.

Burns usually hits the accelerator when he gets to the southeastern U.S., but so far that has not been the case. He’s also not too far off, either.

He made the cut at a pair of Signature Events, going T-30th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-45th last week at the Players Championship.

The 27-year-old is 20th on the PGA Tour this season in Strokes Gained: Total (.958), 23rd in SG: Off-the-Tee (.462), and is his usual prolific self on the greens at 18th in SG: Putting (.568).

Burns is also 24th in average approach proximity from 175-200 yards (30’4”).