Three equipment changes Sam Burns made since winning the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship

SAN ANTONIO – Andrew Landry’s mother wore a golf shirt Sunday that displayed the 2016 U.S. Open logo. It was an interesting choice, given that her son became the Cinderella story at Oakmont until reality hit in the form of a final-round 78. But Patricia Landry said there was no hidden meaning to her wardrobe selection. No attempt to exorcise demons from that final day or reanimate good vibes from those first three rounds when Andrew played his way into the last twosome of his only major start. “I kept the baby last night,â€� she explained, referring to Andrew’s son Brooks, whom wife Elizabeth gave birth to a month ago. “I got up, took a shower, just put on my clothes, whatever I had. Nothing particular.â€� On Sunday, Andrew Landry again found himself in the final group. This time was different. This time, he delivered the winning performance, shooting a 4-under 68 to win the Valero Texas Open by two strokes over Sean O’Hair and Trey Mullinax. It’s the first PGA TOUR win in 32 starts for Landry, the Texas native who starred in college at Arkansas. On the surface, that doesn’t seem like a lot of starts for a first-time winner, but the road to get to this point has been paved with plenty of heartbreaking moments. There was the 2009 NCAA Championship, when Landry rallied from 4 down with five holes to play before losing his match when Texas A&M’s Bronson Burgoon nearly holed his approach on the 18th hole. There was Oakmont, when Landry – then ranked No. 624 in the world — grabbed the lead with an opening 66, and then told dad Dwain that he was going to win the tournament. For two more rounds, Landry kept his promise … until midnight struck in the final round and he did a free-fall down the leaderboard into a tie for 15th. Then there was the CareerBuilder Challenge earlier this season, when Landry birdied the 18th to force a playoff with Jon Rahm, only to lose when Rahm birdied the fourth extra hole. Lots of golfers develop scar tissue. For Landry, those were the learning moments that paid off Sunday at TPC San Antonio. “I think that all those kinds of things really help every player whenever you get in a situation and you fail and you continue to fail,â€� Landry said. “You’re learning every single time. “Oakmont definitely did help me. It helped me on how to control my pace and the way my swing is and how important I walk, how that can lead into my golf swing.â€� Landry’s brother Adam has been there every step of the way, and he was among the large contingent of family members who greeted and hugged Andrew on the 18th green. No one, however, was shedding more tears of joy than Adam. “It’s been a long time coming,â€� Adam said. “I’ve watched all the trials and tribulations what he’s gone through, the highs and the lows. There was no Plan B for him. There was only this.â€� Referring to his brother’s previous heartbreaks, Adam noted, “Stuff like that will cripple people. It’ll make you want to quit, failing back and forth – but he continuously figured out a way to find his way to the top.â€� Perhaps hardships are easier to deal with when you’ve learned the game on a hardscrabble environment. The nine-hole Pea Patch course in Landry’s hometown of Port Neches-Groves, Texas, was hardly a country club-type of set-up. But it proved useful in developing the kind of skills that can thrive on Texas courses. “I learned the bump and run – obviously didn’t show on No. 11,â€� laughed Landry, referring to his lone bogey when his chip from the rough finished in the fringe. Landry isn’t the only PGA TOUR pro with a Pea Patch heritage. Chris Stroud also grew up on the course. “It’s funny that we have two TOUR players that played from a nine-hole goat ranch, seriously,â€� Andrew said. “It’s pretty amazing that both of us got out … We had good players to play with. It was crazy – you could be on the PGA TOUR and a guy in Crocs could beat you. I’m not lying.â€� “It’s where you learn your chipping and your putting,â€� added Dwain said while waiting for his son to emerge from the scoring trailer. Dwain was trying to keep calm, just as he did all afternoon, even though he was “pretty nervous.â€� But you could tell the fatherly pride was wanting to burst out. “We’ve always had faith in him,â€� Dwain said. “We knew his day was going to come. We always told him, just patience. When it’s your turn, it’s going to be your turn. He was calm and focused all day.â€� He was certainly focused when he started his final round with three birdies to separate from playing partners Mullinax and Zach Johnson. And he was certainly calm on the back nine. After he bogeyed the 11th, he missed two birdie putts inside 5 feet on the 12th and 14th holes that could have given him breathing room. Holding a one-stroke lead over Mullinax for most of the back nine, he never panicked. It was Mullinax, also seeking his first TOUR win, who finally flinched with a bogey at 17. As Andrew walked up the 18th fairway, his brother began to cry. Mom and dad were hugging. Elizabeth was holding the baby – and trying to hold it all together. Their home is just an hour away in Austin. Getting his first win in Texas seems appropriate. And deserved. “I tell him all the time – his relentless pursuit of his dream is truly inspiring,â€� Adam Landry said. “This is just the fruits of all that labor. “I’m very proud of him. Proud to call him my brother – but more important, proud for what he stands for and who he is. He’s a good man.â€� And now he’s a TOUR winner. Expect Patricia Landry to wear a Valero Texas Open shirt sometime in the future.

Click here to read the full article…

John Catlin (+15000) … The 30-year-old native Californian is rapidly losing his label as an international man of mystery. That’s the cost of winning so often. When he debuted on the PGA TOUR at the 2018 CIMB Classic, he appeared in this space as a recent three-time champion on the Asian Tour. He delivered on the promise with a T22 in Kuala Lumpur. He went on to make another five starts on the PGA TOUR that season but they didn’t amount to much. Later in 2019, he prevailed in his transplanted home in Thailand. Since a four-month break due to the pandemic in 2020, he’s picked off three victories on the European Tour, the most recent of which the Austrian Golf Open in mid-April. Two weeks ago, he finished fifth at the Tenerife Open. The AT&T Byron Nelson opens a fortnight of competition as he’s poised for his major championship debut at Kiawah Island next week. He’ll be among the leader in fairways hit at TPC Craig Ranch. Talor Gooch (+8000) … With his second start in the PGA Championship looming and without a break in four weeks, the commitment to the AT&T Byron Nelson cannot be overstated. At 53rd in the FedExCup, the 29-year-old from Oklahoma is entrenched in that sturdy seam of talent between the elite and the rank and file. It’s an extension of the pedigree he brought when he broke onto the PGA TOUR in 2017-18. Three top-five finishes this season, most recently a T5 at THE PLAYERS Championship. Sepp Straka (+15000) … Now in his third season on the PGA TOUR, the 28-year-old from Austria is experiencing a flattening of his learning curve. In his first two seasons, he went a collective 23-for-50 but still qualified for the Playoffs in each. In 2020-21, he’s 16-for-21 with a pair of top 10s among five top 25s. He arrived at TPC Craig Ranch having strung together six paydays and sits a comfortable 92nd in the FedExCup. There isn’t much gloss on the back of his trading card but it’s also devoid a significant weakness. He presents as a quintessential sum-is-greater-than-his-parts talent. Ben Martin (+10000) … Whether it’s a truncated season, a super season or just a traditional season, reaching the FedExCup Playoffs from the conditional status category never is easy. If anything, it’s a bonus after the stress of navigating the year not always knowing in advance when one’s number is high enough to wiggle into a field. This is his reality in 2020-21. The 33-year-old has made some noise of late with a T9 at Corales in March and a T11 at Quail Hollow last week to rise to 162nd in points. He’s doing his thing as usual off the tee, which is half the preferred equation at TPC Craig Ranch where he’s not a stranger. He placed T13 when the Korn Ferry Tour Championship was last held here in 2012. Wes Roach (+30000) … Quietly going about his business juggling the PGA TOUR on conditional status with spot-starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s 8-for-10 with three top 20s across both circuits in 2021. He’s slipped into a groove before, connecting for four top-11 finishes in six starts in the summer of 2019, three of which on the PGA TOUR. The 32-year-old is closer to qualifying for the KFT Finals via the FedExCup for which he’s ranked 200th, but he’s also knocking on the door on the KFT where he’s 91st in points. His strength is keeping his ball in play from tee to green, so even an average week with a putter at TPC Craig Ranch would yield tee times on the weekend. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, May 11 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

Click here to read the full article…

As happenstance goes, the decision to resume the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season with a three-week run at courses (the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial CC; the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links; the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands) that are hugely popular and tournaments so rich in history could not have been more perfect had Jim Furyk been given the job to map things out. “There are always tournaments that I earmark that I love playing. Funny, but those three tournaments are three I would usually play,� said Furyk, who was 49 when last we were playing competitive golf – March 12 at THE PLAYERS Championship. During the pandemic, Furyk turned 50, and while he has circled some PGA TOUR Champions tournaments onto his calendar, he’s anxious to get into this early part of the re-start. No surprise, given what he has accomplished at these first three tournaments. At Colonial, which “used to be my favorite event early in my career,� Furyk has twice been runner-up, including a playoff loss in 2007, and in 22 starts he has seven top 10s. At Harbour Town, where he has played 20 times, Furyk has won twice, finished second, and recorded eight top 10s. “The RBC is my favorite event,� he said. Then there’s TPC River Highlands, where in 2016 Furyk established PGA TOUR history with the lowest competitive round, a scintillating 58. “So, you look at those first three events and they’ve been really good to me and I enjoy them,� he said, “so it was kind of easy to say, ‘OK, I’ll play these three.� Makes sense, of course, but the thing is, Furyk could be speaking for a healthy line of his colleagues. That’s because these cozy and familiar settings have been a source of consistent success for more players than just Furyk. All three courses are linked by two common denominators: One, they are relatively short and demand precision over power, and two, each has been a longtime staple on the PGA TOUR schedule. Colonial has hosted a tournament annually since 1946; Harbour Town since 1969; TPC River Highlands since 1984. While Fort Worth, Texas, certainly qualifies as a big city, the neighborhood around Colonial screams old-school friendly, so the community embrace of the Charles Schwab Challenge is a serious undertaking. As for Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (RBC Heritage) and Cromwell, Connecticut (Travelers), we are talking big-time shows powered by small-town love. Never have these tournaments fallen in succession on the PGA TOUR schedule. Harbour Town is an April stop, Colonial a May fixture, and TPC River Highlands locked into June. But with all facets of our world turned upside down in this pandemic, there has been a demand for out-of-box solutions and creative minds came up with a mid-June start that will provide players the Colonial-Harbour Town-TPC River Highlands trifecta. That was sweet music to PGA TOUR members who favor a style of play that is a throwback to a bygone era. “I feel all three courses would certainly be characterized as some of my favorites,� said Zach Johnson, who has won twice at Colonial, been runner-up at Harbour Town, and third at TPC River Highlands. “They’re different, but also have some similarities. They’re not overly long and they reward quality ball-striking. Straight tee shots (are important) where fairways are a premium, and trajectory control, especially at Colonial and Harbour Town where it is usually windy (is important).� If you were to tell longtime PGA TOUR fans that there is one player who has won at each of these three courses, that he was a prototype ball-striking machine and arguably managed golf courses better than anyone in his prime, we’re going to wager that the name Nick Price would be suggested. Bingo. A masterful tactician who controlled his trajectory brilliantly and could shape shots both ways, Price won twice at Colonial, and once each at Harbour Town and TPC River Highlands. In a combined 43 starts at those golf courses, Price recorded 12 top-10s and you can be sure that were he still in his competitive prime, he’d put his arms around the opportunity to play these courses three weeks in a row. He’d have great company, too, because the sentiments of Furyk and Johnson are shared by many of their PGA TOUR brethren. That is the undeniable appeal of these shot-maker’s golf courses and when you study past results, it’s no surprise to see how great players have fared well at these venues. Phil Mickelson (twice at Colonial, twice at TPC River Highlands) and Stewart Cink (twice at Harbour Town, twice at TPC River Highlands) have four wins at these golf courses, while Boo Weekley (twice at Harbour Town and once at Colonial) and Kenny Perry (twice at Colonial, once at TPC River Highlands) found the winner’s circle three times. The comfort zones at these courses is very real but it goes beyond just knowing that they “fit your eye,� as the saying goes. Impressively, while these courses are friendly to shorter hitters, they do not throttle big hitters, either and winners at both ends of the spectrum punctuate the rollcalls of champions. Davis Love III, for instance, was ferociously long in his prime, and he won five times at Harbour Town. Players who can move it from one zip code to another – Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Mickelson, Perry – have won at Colonial, and then there is the uncanny Bubba Watson. Seven of the last 10 winners at The Travelers Championship ranked between 75th and 170th in driving distance at season’s end the year they won. The only three exceptions? All Watson, who was 9th in 2018, 2nd in 2015, and 2nd in 2010, the years he won the Travelers. Ask him why and Watson will tell you that stepping onto the TPC River Highlands property and its 6,841 yards is like a pair of comfortable slippers. It just feels right. To Johnson, that goes beyond the courses. It starts with the companies (Charles Schwab at Colonial, RBC at Hilton Head; Travelers at TPC River Highlands) behind the tournaments. “They all have phenomenal title sponsorships. (They all) understand how to utilize the golf platform for entertainment, stewardship, and charitable awareness. I admire their leaders and I am grateful they want to be a part of the PGA TOUR,� he said. True, it will be a PGA TOUR with a vastly different feel and look come June 11 when competitive golf is played for the first time in three months. “I’m anxious to kind of even learn more about how just a normal day on the PGA TOUR is going to look now,� said Furyk, “because it’s going to be so much different than what I’ve been used to for the last 27 years.� No one would argue with that. But if it would be possible to suggest it won’t take long for Furyk and colleagues to get comfortable, the answer would likely be the cozy confines of Colonial, Harbour Town and TPC River Highlands.

Click here to read the full article…