Oh, baby: Originally set to skip Open, Sam Burns now with another 54-hole major lead

Sam Burns wasn’t supposed to be here.

His wife, Caroline, was due with their second child last Tuesday, and Burns had initially planned on skipping this 154th Open Championship to be back home in Shreveport, Louisiana, with Caroline, their 2-year-old son, Bear, and the impending arrival. But daughter Belle came a little early, on July 3, allowing Burns to make the trip to Royal Birkdale after all.

“I just didn’t think there was any possible way, and little Belle had different plans for us,” said Burns, who credited Caroline for encouraging him to compete.

“She basically said, ‘I’ve got this at home. Go over there and give it your best,’ and here we are.”

Now, Belle’s dad is leading with one round to play.

Burns followed Friday’s record-tying, 8-under 62 with a third-round 65 on Saturday afternoon – the best consecutive 36 holes in major history – to move to 10 under, two shots clear of Si Woo Kim and Ryan Fox, who added a 62 of his own earlier in the day to climb 50 spots up a leaderboard that surprisingly didn’t project any other third-round scores better than Burns’ 65 on a Birkdale layout still firming up in the midst of a historic heat wave.

The last time we saw Burns in a major championship, he was fighting back tears. Starting the final day at Shinnecock a touchdown behind leader Wyndham Clark, Burns fell on his hands and knees after his birdie try at the last came an inch from falling, that miss ultimately the difference as Burns ended up a stroke back of Clark.

Burns didn’t feel like he lost that U.S. Open, not like the previous summer at Oakmont, where he held the 54-hole lead, only to close in 78 and slip to T-7, five behind champ J.J. Spaun. But that didn’t make the emotions any less raw afterward, as Burns was asked about a moment he shared with his dad, Todd, off the 18th green.

“He just said he was really proud,” said Burns, getting so choked up that he needed to pause. “Sorry. Just said he was proud. … I think we both knew how special it could have been for Father’s Day, but I know he’s proud.”

Burns went 17 major starts before notching his first top-10 finish, a T-9 at the 2024 U.S. Open; he’s since posted four top-10s in his last nine, including a T-7 at this year’s Masters. Long considered one of the best putters in the world, Burns took a while to develop the type of iron play fitting of a major champion. He ranks 51st in strokes gained approach after a few seasons ranked in the lower half on the PGA Tour, and through 54 holes this week, Burns has hit 41 greens in regulation, just two fewer than the leader in that category, Cameron Young. He’s learned how to pick his spots better on these major tests, too, knowing when to be aggressive and when to dial it back to avoid unnecessary risks.

“It helped that I got to play a lot of golf with the best player on the planet and kind of watch what he does,” Burns said, referencing learning from best friend and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, by osmosis. “I mean, he’s far and beyond the best person that does that.”

Burns flagged wedge shots inside 5 feet on Nos. 2, 7 and 8, birdieing all three holes while adding another at the par-3 fourth, where he hit 4-iron to 15 feet. After his only blemish of the day, a bogey at the par-4 ninth, Burns birdied both par-5s – No. 14 with a momentum-stealing 32-footer and No. 17 after a poor layup into the left rough.

“He’s someone I spend so much time around; I know how good he is,” Scheffler said. “Sometimes you just need to continue to build that experience and put yourself in the positions. ... For me, it’s just a matter of time until he gets it done in one of these.”

Meanwhile, the rest of the leaders struggled to steer their rounds into the clubhouse.

Lucas Herbert, who shot the first 62 of this championship on Friday morning and led by two entering Saturday, bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16, his third-round 71 dropping him in to a share of fourth with Ryan Gerard at 7 under.

Jackson Suber, the other half of the final twosome, carded three bogeys in his last six holes to fall to T-6, where he’s joined at 6 under by Ludvig Aberg and Bryson DeChambeau, who played alongside Burns on Saturday, a day removed from incurring a two-stroke penalty for improving the conditions of his intended swing path on the fifth hole and then threatening to boycott the third round before ultimately decided late Friday night to remain in the competition.

DeChambeau received a big ovation on the first tee but couldn’t get much going. He bogeyed his second hole by missing a 5-footer, then offset that with a 35-foot birdie at No. 6. He parred each of his next eight holes, including the par-5 14th, where he somehow saved par at the par-5 14th despite drawing an incredibly awkward lie in a greenside pot bunker and skulling his third shot through the green. But after birdies at Nos. 15 and 17, DeChambeau tugged his final drive, then hit a poor chip before missing a 10-footer for par and signing for a penalty-free, 1-under 69.

A two-time U.S. Open champion but never better than T-8 at this championship, DeChambeau is still very much in this as the only player currently in the top 10 who has won a major.

So, too, are local favorite Tommy Fleetwood (5 under) and Scheffler, who is one of nine names at 4 under along with fellow major winners Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama. Nineteen total players, not including Burns, are within four shots of second place.

They’re all chasing Burns, who has a modest entourage – longtime caddie Travis Perkins, coach Brad Pullin and older brother Chase; everyone else is home loving on baby Belle – and all week has been enjoying the proverbial gravy.

“To be able to come play here was a bonus this week,” Burns said. “Ultimately whatever happens, I know that I can accept the outcome, and life’s going to move on. I’ll get to go home and see my family.

“I hope I’m taking some hardware with me, but if I’m not, that’s fine too.”