DUBLIN, Ohio – Three years ago, Sam Burns came to Muirfield Village to accept the Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s top NCAA Division I golfer from the man himself. His return visits haven’t been as fruitful, though. Burns finished dead last at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide in 2018 and had to withdraw after shooting 81 the following year. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Morikawa builds on lead But the former LSU standout, who turned pro after his junior year, is trending up this week after a 66 on Friday left him at 9 under and four strokes off Collin Morikawa’s lead at the end of a muggy stop-and-start afternoon in the inaugural Workday Charity Open. Morikawa, who shot 5 under on his final nine holes, matched Burns’ 66 on Friday. Burns has known the leader, who played at Cal, since “way back in the day” and he looks forward to having a chance to do battle again this weekend. “He’s an incredible talent,” said the 23-year-old Burns, who is seven months older than Morikawa. “Great player, incredible guy. Really good friend, and so it’s great to see him playing well. I hope he continues to play well this weekend, and hopefully I can give him my best and see what that is.” Morikawa, whose impressive streak of 22 straight cuts made ended last week, will be seeking the second win of his young PGA TOUR career. Burns, on the other hand, is still looking for his breakthrough victory and has just one top-10 in this COVID-19 abbreviated season. Burns grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was also good friends with former PGA champion David Toms’ son Carter. The two played baseball together, then golf. Burns vacationed with family and the two buddies followed in Toms’ footsteps to LSU. Burns and his dad even drove to Fort Worth to see Toms win the 2011 Crowne Plaza Invitational the week after losing a heartbreaker in sudden death at THE PLAYERS Championship. He considers Toms a mentor and his advice invaluable. “You can’t put a price on that,” Burns told PGATOUR.COM last year. One of the bigger hitters on the PGA TOUR, Burns came to Muirfield Village ranked No. 13 in driving distance. He started on the back nine Friday and put that talent on full display at the par-5 11th with a 342-yard poke on the way to a 10-footer for birdie. Burns made two more birdies before he made the turn. But it was a flurry at the finish that enabled him to close the gap on Morikawa, starting with a 14-foot birdie putt at the par-5 seventh. Shortly after the ball snaked into the hole, the horn sounded to suspend play for the second time on Friday. Burns went inside the clubhouse and talked with friends, maintaining social distance, he was quick to point out, then came back and made birdie putts of 5 and 8 feet on the next two holes. “It’s a great way to end off a round, no matter if it’s after a rain delay or whenever it is,” Burns said. “Hopefully it’ll give me some momentum going into tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens.” Burns thinks his game is in better shape overall than it was in his previous starts at Muirfield Village. He credits the work he and his caddie Travis Perkins have been doing with the turnaround. “Travis and I have really focused on just trying to get better every day, whatever aspect of the game that is,” Burns said. “We’re just trying to find little ways to get better here and there. We’ll kind of go over the round today and see where we can improve on tomorrow.”
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