Sam Burns finished in a tie for sixth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week.
On the face of it, a top-10 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was a decent result for Burns.
However, scratch beneath the surface and there is a real reason to be concerned by the 29-year-old’s finish to the PGA Tour event at Pebble Beach.
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Burns is the best putter on the PGA Tour and as a result, he always has a good chance of winning tournaments when he gets in and around the top of leaderboards.
He is just 29, so he has so much more to learn and experience to gain.
However, considering the talent he possesses, there is a real argument to be made that he simply hasn’t won as many times as he should have.
Sam Burns’ bizarre decision on the final hole at Pebble Beach leaves questions over his mentality
Burns stepped on the par-five 18th tee two shots behind the clubhouse leader at the time, Min Woo Lee.
However, rather than rip a drive down the middle and give himself a chance of making an eagle, he played safe off the tee by hitting an iron.
The 29-year-old actually found the bunker to the right of the fairway in the end, and made a par.
The fact that Burns didn’t go all out for the eagle that would have given him a chance of winning the tournament at the time says a lot about his mentality.
Was he playing for a pay check rather than the chance to win? It seems like that’s exactly what he did, and that’s simply not good enough for a player of his calibre.
This is a five-time PGA Tour winner, don’t forget.
However, Burns’ record of just two top-10 finishes in 22 major appearances as well as seven missed cuts tells its own story.
That is evidence of a real weak link when it comes to the very biggest events, and the way that he finished the tournament at Pebble Beach was yet further evidence of this.
Johnson Wagner stunned by Sam Burns’ decision at Pebble Beach
Burns has received plenty of criticism for not hitting a driver off the 18th tee on Sunday at Pebble Beach.
When speaking to Golf on CBS, Johnson Wagner delivered his verdict on Burns hitting an iron off the 18th tee.
“I had dropped back after following Scheffler. I had dropped back to the Burns and Fleetwood group,“ Wagner explained.
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“Fleetwood makes a great birdie on 17 and tees off first. He pulls three-wood and absolutely sends it just left of the tree, giving himself a chance.
“If you’re a left to right player with driver in those wins, it’s a very intimidating tee shot.
“He (Burns) had Driver teed up, he was going to hit it, the wind picked up from behind him, and you could see that he was uncomfortable.
“He goes over and talks to his caddie, Travis Perkins, and I’m just stunned.
“Like, Sam Burns is a top player in the world.
“I’m not gonna say it was a financial decision, but it sure felt that way.
“So you have a chance to make eagle and have a chance to win this golf tournament, and as soon as he pulled iron, that chance became zero.“
Wagner is spot on with that take. If Burns is going to win more regularly and contend more in the major championships, he needs to change his mentality.
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