Crank Your Damn Volume Up For Sam Burns' Stick-Rattling, Slam-Dunk Hole In One At The FedEx St. Jude Championship
Salute to the PGA TOUR for allowing "X" embeds nowadays. Growing the game!! Speaking of which, Sam Burns is one of the best players on the planet who many people don't know about. Ranked as high as ninth in the world rankings, he's rattled off five victories on the big circuit within the last three years.
Burns is way out of the hunt this weekend at the FedEx Cup playoffs opener, but that didn't stop him from dunking the shit out of this shot at TPC Southwind's par-3 11th hole. What a fucking beauty. You love to see it. Any hole in one is awesome. When you nail that uno on the fly, it's even more unbelievable. No bad-luck ricochet scenario here for Burns. That thing was pure as pure can be.
And if this reaction from Burns isn't a total microcosm of the stupid game of golf that many of us hold dear, I don't know what is:
That's the look of a man with the prime of his career ahead of him who's going through it right now. Not to the extreme that Justin Thomas has been, but on the heels of his triumph at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Burns missed two of the four major cuts at the PGA and Open Championship. He's still only 27 years young and has accomplished so much already. Maybe he can find a little playoff momentum and make a late push for one of those captain's picks on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. I'm sure he's eager to redeem himself in international competition after going 0-3-2 in his Presidents Cup debut last year.
Good karma is in the air:
PS: Love that Burns has a Topgolf logo on his sleeve. Bringing it back around to growing the game! There you go!! Sam Burns, Topgolf ambassador.
PPS: I went to Topgolf several weekends ago. Not that you care but you might. It was part of my buddy's baby shower, OK!? A wonderful occasion. So shove it. Anyway. First time holding a club all year. Legit cold-topped five in a row to start. So embarrassing. Then just started ripping flush after flush out the back of the range. Makes me feel like I can go pro. Then I remember how maddening golf is for the best players on the planet and I'm content to get my buzz on and be a range warrior amongst friends.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok