Sam Burns on miss: 'I'll see that putt' tonight

Sam Burns put himself in the clubhouse on Sunday with a 72-hole U.S. Open score at Shinnecock Hills that would have beaten all but one golfer in history.

Too bad for him there was a second one on the way and he knew it.

Burns shot a closing-round 67, the best second-best score of the day, and finished the tournament 3-under par, but it wasn’t enough to ever pry the lead away from eventual wire-to-wire winner Wyndham Clark. After posting a birdie on the par-5 16th hole Burns missed birdie putts on the par-3 17th and par-4 18th, the last of those skimming just right of the cup and sending him to his knees in exasperation.

“I really thought I made that putt,” he said shortly after the end of his round. “I’m sure when I close my eyes tonight I’ll see that putt again.”

It meant he had to wait and watch while Wyndham finished the final three holes of his round with a 1-stroke lead. Wyndham extended it to 2 on 16, gave the stroke back on 17, then parred the 18th with a two-putt tap-in. His 72-hole score of 276 tied that Open course record set by Retief Goosen in 2004.

Burns was left with the best non-winning score in Shinnecock’s Open history, but there is no trophy for that.

It was the second year in a row Burns’s Open ended under dramatic and disappointing circumstances. Last year at Oakmont he was the leader heading into the weekend and played in the final group Sunday but shot a rain-hindered 78 to finish in a tie for seventh.

“I felt more like I lost the golf tournament,” Burns said of the 2025 Open. “I certainly don't feel that way today. I think I did my best and I did everything I could to have a chance to win today.”

He began the day at even-par, which was seven strokes behind Clark. Had he been able to overcome that it would have been the largest U.S. Open deficit erased since Arnold Palmer also came back from 7 behind in 1960.

Burns’ good friend and No. 1-ranked golfer in the world Scottie Scheffler was also playing from behind for his first Open, only his would have given him a career Grand Slam rather than a first career major. Scheffler finished the day with a 71 and was at even-par for the tournament.

“I was trying to move my way up the leaderboard,” Scheffler said of starting the final day among three others who were five strokes back. “If Wyndham shot even-par today, I believed that I could catch him.”

Wyndham shot three-over, it turned out, but no one could.

Burns came closest. Clearly emotional, he was once again left only able to imagine what winning a U.S. Open will feel like.

“I think the weight of that and knowing what that memory could have been like,” he said choking back tears, “it would have been really special.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.