ST. LOUIS — Sam Burns spent Tuesday afternoon at The Highlands Golf & Tennis running a golf lesson for kids from First Tee – Greater St. Louis and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, an event he hosted with Raising Cane’s two days out from the opening round of the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club.
Burns demonstrated swings, worked with the kids on the range, signed autographs, and posed for photos through the afternoon. He also stepped behind the counter of the Raising Cane’s food truck to cook chicken fingers and toast. Every kid left with a Cane’s-branded bag of golf gear, per the company.
Sunday night in Memphis, after closing out the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Burns stopped at a Cane’s near the course and carried box combos onto the flight.
“It’s great to be here. This is actually, I think, my first time in St. Louis. I’m excited to be here,” Burns said. “I think it’s really unique what the PGA Tour does, travel around different places. And we get to have different interactions in different cities and meet new people and new relationships, and I think that’s one of the things Cane’s does so well. It serves so many communities across the nation, the U.S. and so many other places, and they do an incredible job to give back and put on events like this. So I’m very fortunate to be here and be a part of it.”
Raising Cane’s began sponsoring Burns earlier this year, and the logo now sits on the collar of his tournament shirts. Todd Graves co-founded the chain in Baton Rouge in 1996 and serves as its co-CEO.
“How do you not love Cane’s? It’s amazing. It’s always fresh. It’s always hot. My mouth is watering looking at this right now,” Burns explained. “Also what they do in so many communities is such an amazing thing. And Todd, his heart for serving and how he’s able to grow this company, it’s pretty impressive.”
Burns and Graves met while Burns was playing at LSU, per a Raising Cane’s release.
“Sam and I met when he was playing for LSU and have been friends ever since,” Graves said in the release. “He’s a true Caniac and a great role model for aspiring athletes and young golfers. I’m glad he was able to teach the kids from First Tee and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis how to golf today, and I’m proud to support Sam and all that he’s accomplished.”
Sam Burns on Growing Up Around David Toms
Burns grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, the same city David Toms has long called home. Toms won 13 times on the PGA Tour, including the 2001 PGA Championship, and played his college golf at LSU. Burns followed him to Baton Rouge out of Calvary Baptist Academy and turned professional after two seasons with the Tigers.
“I just remember, fortunately for me, I got to grow up with David Toms and got to practice with him a lot growing up,” Burns said. “I remember just watching him practice and hit golf balls, and it was like the coolest experience ever for me. For him it was just another day. But I held on to everything he said, and every move he made I tried to copy. So it’s cool for me to kind of look back on that and remember those days for sure.”
The players Burns watched as a kid struck him as bigger-than-life characters, and he pointed to the one-on-one access at events like Tuesday’s as the thing that shows kids otherwise.
“Takes a lot of practice,” Burns said. “This is an individual sport and sometimes they can feel lonely when you’re out practicing by yourself, but it’s also some of my favorite time just to be out there and kind of be by myself and just enjoy the game. And you kind of remember why you fell in love with it in the first place. It’s a game where you feel like you can never really fully conquer this sport. You’re always trying to get better in certain areas and trying to improve, and that’s one of the reasons why I love it so much.”
Burns and his wife, Caroline, had their second child in July, 11 days before he teed off at Royal Birkdale.
“Probably learning more patience, I think,” Burns said. “As many parents here know, being a parent can be frustrating at times. There’s also so much fruit of being a parent. It’s the greatest blessing you could ever imagine. And so I think my perspective is probably a lot different now.”
Sam Burns Enters the BMW Championship Sixth in the FedExCup Standings
Burns arrives at Bellerive No. 6 in the FedExCup standings, up two spots from where he sat before the playoffs opened. A closing 73 at TPC Southwind on Sunday left him at 8-under and tied for third with Alex Noren, eight strokes behind winner Scottie Scheffler. Burns had played his way into the final pairing a day earlier with a bogey-free 62, the low round of the tournament and the best of his 25 career rounds at TPC Southwind. He earned $1.16 million.
The finish capped a four-start stretch that began with a runner-up at the U.S. Open, where Burns closed with a 67 and finished one stroke behind Wyndham Clark at Shinnecock Hills. He tied for 12th at the Travelers Championship, then took solo third at The Open at Royal Birkdale. Five top-10 finishes and a tie for seventh at the Masters fill out his 2026 season. Burns has won five times on the PGA Tour and six times worldwide, most recently at the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Memphis played hot all week. St. Louis forecasts a cooler stretch.
“Maybe a little bit. I think at some point you get kind of used to it. I grew up in Louisiana. It’s obviously extremely hot there too,” Burns said. “So I think it’s a matter of making sure you’re getting plenty of rest and hydrating, and it’s definitely not a place you want to go play golf for three weeks straight in that heat. But you get a little bit used to it, and kind of use the beginning part of this week to get ready for this weekend.”
Bellerive plays 7,448 yards to a par of 70, with 12 par 4s, four par 3s, and two par 5s across a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design that opened in 1960. Rain fell Sunday night, and more was in the forecast for Wednesday. Burns had seen only the back nine by the time he left for the clinic.
“I’ve not played the golf course until today. I played the back nine, and it’s a really good golf course. It’s tough. It’s a big golf course. It’s long,” Burns said. “So I think it’s just going to be a combination of you have to drive the ball well, really big putting surfaces, so you’ve got to hit it in the right spots and be able to lag putt pretty well around there.”
Bellerive last drew the world’s top players for the 2018 PGA Championship, won by Brooks Koepka. The BMW Championship was played there in 2008, when Camilo Villegas took the title.
“You can tell that they enjoy having sports in this town. It’s a great sports town. And unfortunately, we don’t get to be here much,” Burns said. “But when we do, it’s a great turnout with the support we get from St. Louis. So, yeah, I’m very excited for this week.”
The BMW Championship runs Thursday through Sunday. The field is 50 players with no cut, the purse is $20 million, and the top 30 in the standings after Sunday advance to the Tour Championship. First-round play begins at 9:03 a.m. CT Thursday, with ESPN carrying coverage from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. CT and Golf Channel from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT.
