With Team USA needing a monumental fightback in the afternoon session on Saturday, some eyebrows were raised when World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time Major champions Brooks Koepka were rested.
The duo may have been on the end of a record-breaking thrashing in the earlier session but the need to put red on the board might have forced captain Zach Johnson’s hand to turn to his big guns once again.
Instead, he chose to roll the dice, sending out Sam Burns as part of the opening fourballs match despite his disappointing performance on Friday morning.
Before their match on the opening morning, some had raised concerns over the 27-year-old’s form, including Golf Channel pundit Brandel Chamblee, who labelled him the “worst ball-striker on the US team.”
“In Burns, you’ve got strokes gained, approach strokes gained off of the tee he is the worst player on the team. And in good old-fashioned statistics like driving accuracy, greens in regulation, he is the worst player on that team,” he added.
Paired with Scheffler, the pair fell to a comfortable 4&3 defeat against Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton with Burns rested for the afternoon’s action on Friday.
It seemed to confirm what some Chamblee and others feared about Burns heading into the week – a man out of form yet one preferred to the likes of Cameron Young and Keegan Bradley who remained at home.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Prior to the first ball being hit, Burns spoke about playing with a “chip on his shoulder.” That mentality certainly exuded out of the American in the early parts of Saturday’s afternoon action.
Playing alongside Morikawa against the in-form and unbeaten Scandinavian duo of Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Holvand, Burns got off to a flyer with three birdies in his first six holes as the US stormed into an early lead to lead 4up at the turn.
As he tapped in the birdie putt on the sixth, the American – sporting a mullet inscribed with his nation’s initials – turned to taunt the crowd, fully playing into his role as the pantomime villain in Rome.
🚨🏆🇺🇸 Sam Burns taunts the European crowd: “what’s that?? I can’t F—king here you!!!” 🤬 pic.twitter.com/jXIPhioXC2September 30, 2023
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