My London-based friend Keith Jackson is the Golf Editor at Sky Sports, and the easiest way to think of them is as the ESPN of the United Kingdom and Ireland, except better. I see him just once a year, at Augusta, although even that is tough because he might be the hardest working guy there. He and the Sky Sports gang cover the PGA like Garry Maddox covered centerfield. (And he still took time last year to help me write a story on Yorkshire pudding, mini cottage pies, and cheese—a creamy English brea, as I recall…)

Got this note from him after Sam Burns shot a bogey-free 68 Sunday to finish 2-under Sunday and in 8th place in the Honda Classic:

“Best round I’ve seen from anyone this year. Shoots 68, flawless, on that course, playing with Tiger, needing a top 10 to get into the Valspar … seriously impressive.”

Why would Sam’s round have been the best of this early season? Justin Thomas, who finished at minus-8 and won Sunday tournament in a playoff, shot a 67 Thursday and a 65 Saturday. And, like Burns, a closing 68. Jimmy Walker, a 6-time winner on the tour, and Joel Dahmen, who plays on the Web.com tour with Burns, both shot 67s Sunday; they finished in a tie for 33rd.

Here’s what Keith means:

Burns was only 14 PGA rounds old after Sunday;

He was playing the same hard course as the other guys; it’s not the pitch-and-putt contest that some PGA tournaments are;

Burns, 21, was playing with Woods, 42, the guy who was dominating the game when Little Sam fell in love with it and realized he could play. That might have bothered a less-mature golfer who has yet to get on the PGA Tour;

The problem wasn’t competing against Woods. Woods is a middle-aged balding guy who dominated the game for half a generation. He might still catch lightning in a bottle for four days, and he’s a PGA Tour player—so much harder than most people think—but players aren’t intimidated by him anymore. No, the problem of playing with Woods is the gallery that follows him. “The crowds were unbelievable,” said Sam’s coach Brad Pullin, Director of Golf and head pro at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant. “At times he had to pick his spots and was able to play when they weren’t moving. That can be a huge distraction. Especially on the greens, because when Tiger putts out everyone starts leaving, so if Sam still has to putt, he’s really got to focus on what he’s doing. And he did. That’s not easy at all;”

Finally—this is the biggie—he was playing for a Top 10 finish that would earn him a pass to Tampa and Valspar in two weeks. He was playing on a Sunday with Woods and the Tiger Gallery on a course that played harder this year than in any other year at the Honda Classic since 2007. A Top 10 finish was a possibility.

And he did it. Bogey free. Yes, he beat Tiger by 2, but Sam beat everybody who didn’t finish tied for eighth or lower. Top 10 was the target, and that was what he hit.

“I just told him, ‘Go and be you,’” Pullin said. “He was ready. He had a great week of practice leading up to this week. Just go be yourself and play golf like you know how to play it. And that’s what he did.”

Tee to green he’s solid statistically, but his putting—with the strong winds and the distractions—was especially good. “When it’s windy like that, he had to make some longer par putts to keep the momentum going,” Pullin said. “He did that well this week. His speed control on all his long putts was solid, his delivery speed was really good.”

Playing fast and loose, and putting well on a grass and a speed like the Squire Creek greens that he’s used to, he didn’t have a lot to clean up around the hole Sunday.

Which helped him clean up. Because of all that, he made a really hard round look much easier than it was.
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