MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2026

Sam Burns

Quick Quotes

Q. Only one bogey out there today. There's a lot of trouble on this golf course. How were you mostly able to avoid that trouble?

SAM BURNS: I think I drove it really nice. That obviously helps. Then just tried to get the ball on the green as much as possible.

You know, as you know, it's difficult to chip around these greens, and so really just trying to give myself as many opportunities as possible today.

Q. You played the par-5s really well today. How important is par-5 scoring on this golf course?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, I think historically people who have success here play the par-5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So it's a good recipe around this golf course, yeah.

Q. Has this been the most solid round you've had here?

SAM BURNS: Probably, yeah, yeah.

Q. From an outside perspective, it seems like the course is playing maybe especially more firm than it has in recent years. What's your take on that after one round?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, I would say so. I think the past few years we've gotten rain at some point in the week, early in the week. You could definitely see it even from Monday to today how much firmer the greens are. They're only going to get firmer.

I think as the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there, and I think it's going to be a really good test.

Q. Sam, this is obviously the position you would want to be in. Now that you are there looking down at the top of the leaderboard, does it relieve some of the pressure or only increase it?

SAM BURNS: Like I said earlier, I think this golf course is so tricky that you kind of try to get lost in your kind of process out there and just try to execute.

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. 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.

Q. The scoring average so far today is quite high. It's like a 3. What was the secret of your success?

SAM BURNS: I think just getting the ball in the green a ton is what I tried to do, even if it was 30 feet. You know, a lot of these hole locations, they kind of try to tempt you to hit one close. You can make a bogey very quickly.

You know, credit to Travis trying to pull the reins back at times. So I think overall we did a good job of that today.

Q. You laid up on 13. Can you talk about how you played that hole?

SAM BURNS: Yeah, I wish I could have gotten there too into the wind. I hit kind of a spinny drive and just couldn't get there. I had to chip it down there around the corner.

I was trying to get a little further up to the right to make the pitch shot a little bit easier, but I was able to hit a nice pitch in there to, I don't know, 10 or 12 feet and hole the putt.

Q. If ESPN asked you to pick one of your shots today for us to put on a highlight, which shot would you pick?

SAM BURNS: I mean, I would say my second shot into two was pretty nice. With the wind off the left, you know, kind of that back middle hole location, kind of played it up there 20, 25 feet left of the hole and let it feed in. It's obviously a nice way to start the day.

Q. What did you hit?

SAM BURNS: That was a 6-iron.

Q. You mentioned patience. How many throughout your career have you work on that, especially at courses like this?

SAM BURNS: Every single day probably. I think patience is something that you constantly have to work on. You know, especially as someone who likes to compete and try to win, which unfortunately doesn't happen a lot, I think patience say big part of not just golf, but life.

We're constantly inconvenienced by something, and so trying to be more patient is good for all of us, especially for me.

Q. Do you feel like this course suits you, or do you try not to think in those terms?

SAM BURNS: I mean, I would like to think in my head that a lot of golf courses do, but at the end of the day, it comes down to execution. It doesn't matter if it's -- you know, people would say, oh, the Valspar, it's a perfect golf course for you. It's like, well, yeah, if you execute, sure, it is. If you don't, you can shoot 75 pretty easily. So I think that's what it comes down to really to any golf course.

But I think, if anything, these greens are similar to what I play on at home. A lot of slope and fast. So I would say that part of it I'm fairly used to.

Q. Where do you play at home?

SAM BURNS: Squire Creek. It's a Fazio, so big, undulating greens.

Q. We'll see where you are at the end of the day, but if you are still ahead, how would you stop yourself going to sleep tonight thinking, I'm leading the Masters?

SAM BURNS: I think when I get back home, you kind of forget about golf a little bit. I have an almost 2-year-old at home, so really just you get to have the joy of being a dad and just hanging out with him. It's a really good distraction, and I'm looking forward to doing that this afternoon.