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Professional golfer Sam Burns melted down and broke his driver on Saturday after hitting a tee shot into the woods in Tennessee and was forced to play the rest of the day without it.
Burns was actually in contention for the top spot in the four-day FedEx St. Jude Championship when he ripped a shot from the tee box but it missed the fairway at TPC Southwind.
The 28-year-old reacted by slamming the club onto the ground and tearing the head off of it.
After an errant tee shot on No. 9, Sam Burns breaks his driver and will be without it for the back nine.
With the double bogey, he is now 4 shots back (solo 3rd). pic.twitter.com/Nm28b94YeM
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 17, 2024
The temper tantrum captured by the TV cameras was not of a player who had fallen behind and was facing a cut. As Golf.com noted:
Starting the day one off the lead, Burns was still in great position through his first eight holes of the third round. He had two bogeys at that point, but he also had drained four birdies. The solid play had improved his total score to 12 under, putting him in close pursuit of leader Hideki Matsuyama. But things aren’t as they always seem. Poor drives had ultimately been responsible for Burns’ bogeys at the 1st and 7th holes, and another wayward tee shot resulted in a disappointing par at the par-5 3rd (Matsuyama made eagle at 3). So when Burns sent his drive at the 9th screaming into a grove of trees well left of the fairway, the frustration overcame him.
Burns was still in contention for a win Sunday after showing a lot of resilience to close out the tournament.
As of the time of publication, the LSU alum trailed Matsuyama by six strokes at -12 through 11 holes.
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