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After reports indicated that he would miss the Open Championship due to his wife’s pregnancy, Sam Burns was on site Monday at Royal Birkdale and is expected to compete at the Open Championship.
Burns is coming off a heartbreaking performance at the U.S. Open, where he made a Sunday charge at Shinnecock to challenge Wyndham Clark, only to see that surge come inches short. The Athletic reported that Burns would likely skip the final leg of the major season as he and his wife were expecting their second child, with Burns’ mom telling the outlet he would not be making the trip across the Atlantic. “He won’t go to Europe,” Burns’ mom told the Athletic. “This is his last major. They’re going to go home and have a baby.”
Burns would only comment after the Shinnecock round that his wife was 37 weeks pregnant and that he was playing the Travelers the following week, where he ultimately finished T-12. He did not play in the Scottish Open last week.
However, Burns was seen in Southport on Monday, going off Birkdale’s 10th hole for a practice round.
The 29-year-old enters the week 18th in the World Ranking and 10th in the FedEx Cup. Along with the runner-up at the U.S. Open, Burns has also posted top-10 finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Masters, and the Memorial.
This will be his sixth start in his Open career. His best finish is a T-31 at Royal Troon in 2024.
Burns is scheduled to tee off Thursday at 2:31 p.m. local time with Adam Scott and Chris Gotterup.
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