Before they turned pro: Sam Burns
- LSU men's golf photo
Less than five years after turning pro,
Sam Burns now has three PGA Tour victories. Burns took the Valspar Championship in a playoff over Davis Riley, successfully defending the title he won last year at Innisbrook, which was also his maiden tour victory.
Just as when they all were amateurs, players like Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff have gotten a lot more of the attention than Burns as the newest wave of young stars have established themselves on the PGA Tour.
But Burns' ascent has been as quiet and steady as the demeanor he displays on the course. A T6 finish in the Barbasol Championship as an amateur in 2017 was the biggest clue that he was ready for the jump, but there were many others. Burns was overlooked for the 2017 Walker Cup team, no doubt fuel for his subsequent rise.
Here are a few of the stories from our coverage of Sam Burns the amateur: