Tony Finau motivated by Presidents Cup pursuit at 3M Open

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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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PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Jon Rahm is the biggest star in the Mexico Open at Vidanta and he lived up to his billing Thursday, chipping in for birdie and making a late eagle putt for a 7-under 64 and a six-way share of the lead in the first round. RELATED: Leaderboard | Jon Rahm returns to roots in opening 64 at Mexico Open at Vidanta Jonathan Byrd, Brendon Todd, Trey Mullinax and Monday qualifier Bryson Nimmer also were at 64 from the morning wave. Nimmer played his final five holes in 5 under, including a bunker shot he holed out for eagle on the par-5 sixth hole. Kurt Kitayama faced the strength of the afternoon wind and made nine birdies, getting up-and-down from behind the green on the par-5 18th for his 64. The Mexico Open is part of the PGA TOUR schedule and inherits the history of a national open that dates to 1944. It takes the place of the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship that was at Chapultepec in Mexico City for four years through 2020. Rahm knew very little about the Vidanta Vallarta course except that he felt comfortable off the tee, and it showed. The Spaniard missed only one fairway, and three greens. He opened with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 12th hole, but it was the chip-in from 30 feet on the 13th that really got him going. He had to save par on the 10th and 11th holes at the start of his round. “I hadn’t hit my best irons shots early on,” Rahm said. “Chipped that one in from an uncomfortable lie and a tough one. That was a huge bonus. I think a lot of people obviously would look at the eagle on 7, but that one early on was a huge booster.” The eagle on the 311-yard seventh hole was set up by a big drive to the middle of the green on the par 4 and a 40-foot putt that gave him a share of the lead. Rahm also made birdie on each of the three par 5s on the back nine, and perhaps his finest shot was his approach from 206 yards to just inside 4 feet for birdie on the par-4 fourth. Nimmer finished with a blaze of good shots. After a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifth, he holed out for eagle, pitched to 2 feet on the reachable seventh and made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 ninth to close out his round. Aaron Rai, Aaron Wise, Sahith Theegala and Scott Brown were at 65. Rai and Theegala could use top finishes this week to move up in PGA Championship points and try to secure a spot at Southern Hills in three weeks. Next week is the final event for players to qualify in points, which is PGA TOUR earnings. Rahm and Abraham Ancer (71) are the only players from the top 20 in the world at the Mexico Open. That allowed for players like Byrd, who has status as a past champion, to get in. He improved his status with a pair of cuts made in the fall. He tied for ninth at Pebble Beach, which got him into the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Byrd has managed to get in 10 tournaments so far, and feels he is getting some momentum. “I started the year thinking I might get in 15, looks like I might get in more like 20. I’m just happy to have starts,” Byrd said. “And my game’s good, so trying to stay aggressive and see what I can make of it.” Byrd went out in 29 and reached 7 under for the round with a birdie on the par-5 12th. He added a bogey and a birdie the rest of the way. Patrick Reed won the WGC-Mexico Championship at Chapultepec two years ago. He had six birdies in his round of 68, leaving him three shots behind. The wind off the Pacific began to blow as Rahm and other starters had an hour or so to go in their rounds, so the Spaniard will have that to contend with on Friday. “We had no wind for 13, 14 holes. It’s very, very scorable,” Rahm said. “Once the wind starts going 20, 30 miles an hour, this golf course starts showing some teeth.”

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