PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 18, 2025

Sam Burns

Quail Hollow Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Some good things in this round. What worked for you today?

SAM BURNS: Getting off to a good start there early, making two birdies on the first two holes, and then the eagle on 7 was great, up-and-down on 8.

Back nine played a little tougher, I think. 11, it's a difficult tee shot, and it's a difficult second shot.

Then to be able to birdie 14. I was hoping to get one more to the clubhouse, but drove in the right bunker on 16, didn't have a great lie. Fortunately, that ball stayed up. Yeah, a solid round.

Q. A week of struggle, is that it's a major, or you have this thing in your head that you have to work on?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, I think we're always trying to find areas to improve. There's definitely some things that I'm going to work on this next week off. It's always nice to finish with a round like that and kind of get some momentum going.

Q. Can you be more specific about those things you want to work on?

SAM BURNS: I think it's just trying to be a little sharper. I feel like there's a few iron shots where hitting it to 30 or 40 feet and not really having a great look instead of 15 to 20 feet.

There's a couple things here and there, but overall pretty solid.

Q. This gives you a good outlook for the next two majors?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, I think it's a difficult golf course. You have to be in position a lot. I feel like I did a good job of that today.

Q. So you think about what's coming, the two majors, the Ryder Cup?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of golf to be played the rest of this year and two majors left. Hopefully I can put myself in a better position going into the weekend.

Q. Entering the clubhouse with the low round of the day so far. What went so well for you? Statistically speaking, it's the putting.

SAM BURNS: Xander and I started the day with a wedge shot 62. We were getting our best early, and it was pretty good. Yeah, I think the golf course, if you get off to a good start, it definitely helps around here.

Then on the back nine, unfortunately not birdieing 10. (Indiscernible).

Q. Trevor said he thought maybe this course is looking a little bit more gettable in places. Where are the places that it might appear a little bit easier?

SAM BURNS: I think to start out, 1 is probably the easiest location to that green. Then on 2 (indiscernible). Then obviously 7, the par-5. 8, drivable. So little stuff like that, you've kind of got to take advantage of those holes.

Once you reach 16, 17, 18, it's just not. I think you're definitely going to see some guys kind of getting by and making some birdies.

Q. The front nine, a 31 for you right now. Let's talk about your guy Scottie Scheffler. Earlier in the week there was someone asking in all the press conferences, if you could change one part of your game with someone, who would it be and what would it be? And he said, Sam Burns, putting. I guess it's fair to ask you, if you had to change out one part of your game for Scottie's, what is it?

SAM BURNS: It would be hard to say. I've played a lot of golf with him, and it seems like every shot has a magnitude of force and just finds its way up there.

Q. Give us a little insight on Scottie Scheffler, maybe the guy we don't get to see on camera, forward facing. You know how competitive he is, but you spend so much time with him. What is it about him that really sticks out to you?

SAM BURNS: He's just very down to earth. He doesn't take things too seriously. He's very positive and just likes to have fun, and he's like that on the golf course. Very easy going.

You can see his behavior on the golf course (indiscernible). He's just an all around great guy, I think.