By Doug Ireland, Journal Sports
ATLANTA – It was a smooth 66 Thursday by Choudrant’s Sam Burns, with his 4-under opening round at the Tour Championship carrying him within range of the lead in the 29-player field.
Burns had a bogey-free day with two birdies on each side. Having encountered unusual trouble on par-5 holes in the first two legs on the FedEx Cup playoffs, the 30-year-old solved that Thursday, posting birdie 4s on the sixth and 18th holes.
His other birdies came on the par-4 fourth and the par-3 11th. He stroked home a 17-foot, 6-inch putt to get under par, added a six-footer on No. 6 to get to 2-under, then hit a 207-yard tee shot to five feet on the 11th and drained the birdie effort.
On 18, he reached the 590-yard par-5 in two with a 277-yard second shot and two-putted from 47 feet, dropping in a 40-incher to close his 4-under round.
The leader is Min Woo Lee, who fired a 62, with four birdies on each side of the par 70, 7,440-yard course at East Lake Golf Club, where Shreveporter Hal Sutton won the first Tour Championship played there in 1998.
He sits in a ninth place tie beginning today’s play, paired with Collin Morikawa, who is tied for second after posting a 6-under 64 Thursday. The field slimmed by one from 30 when 2025 U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun withdrew after five holes due to shoulder discomfort.
Burns tied for seventh in last year’s Tour Championship, 12th in 2025 and ninth in 2023.
TV coverage today starts at 10 a.m. on ESPN until noon, when Golf Channel picks it up. Weekend plans have Golf Channel starting coverage at noon Saturday and Sunday before CBS takes over at 2.
Burns and Morikawa will go off the first tee at 11:42 a.m. CT today.
The Tour Championship carries golf’s biggest purse, $40 million, with $10 million going to the winner and the top eight getting a range from $5 million to $1 million. Tommy Fleetwood is the defending champion. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won in 2024 and ran away with the opener in this year’s playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis two weeks ago. Two-time U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark was last week’s winner at the BMW Championship.
Burns, a Shreveport native and former LSU two-time All-American, took third at Memphis and tied for 28th in the BMW Championship in St. Louis.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
