Infomastaro

By Tyler ErzbergerShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberPrefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.

Who is the positive story of the Masters after the first day of the competition?

Scottie Scheffler? Ludvig Aberg? Bryson DeChambeau (especially after today)?

No way.

Meet Sam Burns, the 29-year-old from Shreveport, Louisiana, who is turning heads in Augusta after his Thursday on the course, now one of the frontrunners to win a green jacket. He shot five below par and is tied with the reigning champion, Rory McIlroy.

While no one needs an introduction to McIlroy, one of the most famous athletes on the planet, the same can't be said about Burns.

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Although he has five wins on the PGA Tour over the course of his career, a Masters title would take him from a name known in golf circles to a household name overnight.

Burns made his PGA Tour debut at the end of 2017, entering the pro ranks as a highly anticipated, heralded prospect. After winning the AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2014 and then becoming the best college golfer in the nation at LSU a few years later, he had lofty expectations at the start of his career.

While he's never won a major, his best result came at the US Open last year, where he finished fifth. Burns has made $43 million during his nearly decade-long career on the PGA Tour, meaning that though he might not have lived up to his amateur ceiling, he's nowhere near a bust as a pro golfer.

The most spotlight Burns has had in his pro golfing career before Thursday's ascent was in the Ryder Cup, where he's been a part of the past two American teams that have been steamrolled by the European opposition.

In the tour Ryder Cups he's played in, Burns has one win, three losses, and two ties to his name.

If Burns can continue his level of play for the rest of the weekend, however, no one will be talking about his follies at the Ryder Cup anymore. Or his amateur career.

All they'll talk about is his 2026 Masters, where he outlasted every challenger to get something even sweeter than a trophy: the Green Jacket.

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