By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
QUEBEC, Canada – Sam Burns’ Saturday successes helped the USA regain control in the 2024 President’s Cup golf competition, and his Sunday competitiveness muted the International team’s fiery leader.
His weekend excellence helped Team USA prevail 18 ½-11 ½ in the four-day, five-session competition at Royal Montreal Golf Club. Overall, Burns went 3-0-1, one of only two unbeaten Americans.
Burns, a 28-year-old Choudrant resident who plays out of Squire Creek Country Club, was perfect in three team matches Thursday and Saturday. He stayed undefeated Sunday while preventing Tom Kim from generating any momentum that was vitally needed to spark any International team rally from an 11-7 deficit beginning the final day.
Sunday, in a tense singles contest, Burns took a 2-up lead on the front side with a string of four birdies in six holes. He stemmed the tide after Kim bounced back and drew even on the 15th hole.
Burns pulled off clutch shots on the final two holes and posted a crucial draw, earning a half point as the Americans edged toward the 15 ½ points needed to retain the Cup.
The 22-year-old South Korean looked poised to take a 1-up lead with a tee shot into 3 feet on the par-3 17th. Burns responded in style, hitting pitching wedge also next to the flag and draining the putt for matching birdies.
On 18, Burns hit a brilliant 20-foot pitch from a challenging lie to inside 3 feet and pured the putt to match Kim’s par and earn the half point for the Americans.
“I should have never put myself there. I struggled today with my irons, didn’t really strike it great,” said Burns. “It was a difficult chip. There were a lot of variables, up and over that slope, needed to put some spin and some height on it. It was a nice up and down.
“It was a tough match. I knew it would be against Tom. He’s a great player, a great competitor. The majority of the people out here were not rooting for us and we knew that coming in. We tried to embrace it, use it as fuel, and overall we did a good job of that. I’m proud of our guys.”
Burns sat out Friday’s alternate shot format, but rose to the occasion after the Internationals stunned the Americans with a 5-0 sweep on the second day. Entering Saturday with the competition tied at 5, Burns posted wins to score points for the USA in both sessions.
In the morning, he teamed with Patrick Cantlay, his Thursday partner, to score a 2&1 decision over Hideki Matsuyama and Sung-jae Im. In the afternoon, he and Collin Morikawa won 1-up over the Canadian duo of Corey Connors and McKenzie Hughes. Those two points helped lift the USA to a four-point advantage entering Sunday’s 12 singles matches.
It was his second victory in President’s Cup competition, following the USA’s win in 2022 on home soil. He was on the losing Ryder Cup team in Italy a year ago, and had a deceptive 1-5-2 mark in his first two international competitions as a pro (in 2022, he was paired with good pal Scottie Scheffler in the team matches and Scheffler admittedly played poorly).
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