SHRINERS CHILDREN'S OPEN

October 8, 2021

Sam Burns

TPC Summerlin

Quick Quotes

Q. (Question about his play today.)

SAM BURNS: Hit the fairway on the first hole, so that's always nice. Just played solid overall. Kept the ball in the fairway, was able to give myself some good looks and was able to make some putts.

Q. Some people have talked about the difficulty or the challenge of playing after winning the next week. How have you been able to take what happened at Sanderson Farms to here?

SAM BURNS: I think what we tried to do is just last week's last week. This week is Shriners and preparing for this week, trying to make sure Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, that we are giving ourself the best opportunity to play well this week.

So that's been the biggest thing is just trying to move on from last week. Obviously incredibly honored that I won last week and such a fun time, but just trying to kind of leave that there, come here, and just preparing the best that I can.

Q. Did you have any type of celebration?

SAM BURNS: We celebrated a little bit in the clubhouse after, and then we drove home that night. We only live a couple hours from there. So it was nice to get home and see mom and dad.

Q. Since your win at Valspar and your play of late, are you thinking differently as far as what you expect from yourself every time you wake up?

SAM BURNS: Not really. I think, I don't really view it as what do I expect out of myself on the golf course. It's what I expect of myself in preparation, making sure that I'm doing the hard work and making sure that I'm not leaving any leaves unturned. Just trying to make sure that we're preparing the best we can.

Q. When you missed the cut this year your first start of the year at the American Express you were 168th in the world. Now you're 18th. I mean, do you know that? Do you realize what you've done in just a short period of time and what's that feel like?

SAM BURNS: Well, I think there's a lot of great people on our team. They have done a really good job of just trying to help us improve, help us get better in certain areas, and so that's what we've been looking at, just trying to improve in those certain areas and just continue to try to get better.

Q. How much more comfortable are you being in the lead?

SAM BURNS: I think having those experiences last year was obviously helpful, and I don't know what guys will do this afternoon, but we're in a pretty good spot.

Q. How important was the way you played yesterday for today?

SAM BURNS: I feel comfortable. At the end of the day it's golf. It's not anything crazy. So I just try to keep it as simple view. I think for me just coming out here and enjoying myself, having fun, that's what we're supposed to do out hear, right? So just trying to do that.

Q. Do you put any pressure on yourself to make a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup team, now that you've won?

SAM BURNS: Well, I think I played really well leading up to it. I don't think I really put any pressure on myself, a lot of it was out of my control. When you're not in on points it's out of your control, you can't pick yourself. So I think just trying to play well and hopefully get on the team, I didn't, but there's another one in a couple years, so we'll try to play ourselves onto that one.

Q. For the first two rounds here, other than the water ball yesterday, any shots you wish you had back?

SAM BURNS: Not really. Can't think of anything off the top of my head.

Q. How much did that shot bother you, considering the momentum you had going there?

SAM BURNS: Zero. It's just golf.