As you may recall, Burns was the 54-hole leader at last year’s U.S. Open and held that position atop the board until the rain came down on Sunday afternoon. He infamously asked for a second opinion after being denied relief from “casual water” on Oakmont’s soaked 15th fairway, got denied again, and lost his grip on the championship from there. It’s open to interpretation on whether Burns deserved a drop, but his handling of the situation stood out in the wake of a brutal defeat.
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In his first Masters round since golf’s latest “Water-gate,” Burns fired a 67, good for the clubhouse lead on Thursday afternoon. Things peaked early, as he eagled the par-5 second after a 392-yard drive and a brilliant approach from 213 yards that ran out to just 11 feet. It was consistently good golf from there on the front nine, even with a short birdie miss on the third hole after hitting his driver up close to the green. Burns pulled a 3-wood deep left of the eighth green, but chipped to within 10 feet for another birdie. A three-putt bogey on No. 6, a rarity for the PGA Tour’s leader in Strokes Gained: Putting last year, was the only square on the scorecard.
A solid round of hitting greens and making pars took a turn around Amen Corner. Burns narrowly missed a birdie on 11, but rolled in a 20-footer on 12 to move to 3 under. With no angle to the green on his second shot into 13, he laid up, hit a wedge to 11 feet, and made a second consecutive birdie. A wayward drive on 14 into the trees on the right side was no issue, as he hit a low runner that chased onto the green and left him with a stress-free par. Burns then reached the par-5 15th in two and two-putted for the fourth and final birdie of his first round.
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“I feel like you start thinking, you know, in the past or in the future, this is not really a golf course you want to do that,” Burns said. “So I think for me just trying to go out, execute, have a good process, commit to the shot, and just be accepting of whatever happens.”
It doesn’t always take superhuman golf to succeed around Augusta National. Burns kept it on the planet off the tee — he hit 11 of 14 fairways — and put himself in position to make birdies by hitting 16 greens in regulation. For an elite putter, reaching the green can be all you need to run into a score in red numbers. It remains to be seen if Burns can stack four rounds together at the Masters — his best finish is a tie for 29th — but on Thursday morning, the soaking wet discussion at Oakmont seemed to be in the distant past.
