Sam Burns drew a huge blow to beat Scotty Scheffler in the playoffs on Sunday afternoon. (Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
Sam Burns had to sit in the clubhouse and wait a few hours on Sunday afternoon.
And yet, when he finally came back on the field, it was as if he had never left.
Burns, after posting 5 under 65 in the early afternoon, sank with a wild bird in close proximity to the green to overtake top-ranked Scotty Scheffler and win the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Burns has already won three times in the Tour this season and equaled the biggest comeback in the history of the Colonial Country Club after starting the day with seven rebounds.
“Just with the conditions today and how hard the game was, I was so proud of the way we stayed there,” Burns told CBS. “I played just as good a round of golf today… I’m just proud of the way we finished, and then making that shot is just the icing on the cake.”
Burns opened the day with three birds in four holes and made six of them in his top nine to jump straight into the rankings and compete. He then tied nine on his back to reach the 9th floor of the week, which quickly became part of the lead after Scheffler’s two-shot lead disappeared.
But Burns could only watch at the clubhouse while Scheffler tried to make one last bird to win the tournament. Scheffler, after making five straight runs, landed his approach in the green bunker at number 18. A clutch up and down from there, however, saved Scheffler’s steam and forced the playoffs – which began almost two hours after Burns finished his round.
So the two returned to the 18th, where Scheffler approached from the other side of the green, and Burns barely rolled behind. While his ball was 38 feet from the cup, Burns threw his perfect shot to win.
Burns has three laps titles this season after winning the Sanderson Farm Championship in October and the Walspar Championship in March. He has nine places in the top 25 and started the week at number 10 in the world.
Scheffler finished 2 over 72 in second place. The 25-year-old has won the Tour four times so far this season, after winning his first victory earlier this year. He has 12 places in the top 10 and is ahead of John Ram to reach No. 1 in the official world golf rankings. He maintained either a lead or a co-lead after three rounds four times, but turned only one of them into a victory.
The story continues
Brendan Todd then finished third at 8 less than a week. Only four golfers finished with 2 fewer or better on an incredibly hot and windy day at Fort Worth.
“We’re probably best friends,” Burns told Scheffler. “But at the same time, I can assure you that he wanted to beat me more than anyone else, and I wanted to beat him more than anyone else, and in the end it was just the two of us.
“Yes, it will be a fun story that we will have for the rest of our careers and fortunately this time I got a better ending, but I hope we are at the beginning of these situations in the future.”
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