Sam Burns

Burns secured the win on just the 13th hole for his fifth PGA Tour victory.

Sam Burns thumped fellow American Cameron Young 6&5 in the final of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play to secure his fifth PGA Tour title and deny his ...

I felt like I had a bunch of really tough opponents and just ran in to Sam Burns playing really well. It is nice to see the hard work I have put in paying off on the golf course." Burns said: "What a week, I am so tired.

Take a closer look at the Callaway equipment setup Sam Burns used to win the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin.

Burns beats Cameron Young in match play final in Austin as Rory McIlroy beat world No 1 Scottie Scheffler 2&1 for third.

“And then I hit some good shots in the play-off, then I missed a shorty there on 13. Especially towards the end of the round I hit a lot of putts that I thought were going in that didn’t. However, an aggressive tee shot on the short 13th set McIlroy up for a birdie and he remained two up until Young birdied the par-five 16th. “It’s a bit frustrating, but I put up a good fight today. McIlroy fell behind against Young after making a bogey on the third, but bounced back to birdie the fifth, sixth and ninth for a two-hole lead at the turn. The one-sided contest was in stark contrast to the morning’s semi-finals, which both went to extra holes and produced shock results.

AUSTIN, Texas – Sam Burns came into the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play without much fanfare. That's kind of his thing.

Amazingly, this was Burns’ tournament debut, and while the Match Play has historically taken some time for players to figure out – Geoff Ogilvy in 2006 was last to win it in his first try – Burns took to it quickly. Burns fought back and took a 1-up lead to the 18th hole, but Scheffler birdied it to force a playoff. “I think after 10 holes this morning, my caddie, Travis, kind of gave me a good kick in the butt and said, ‘Come on man, let's go, you got this.’ And I really needed it at the time. But Burns found another gear, making eight birdies in a stretch of 10 holes to close out the victory. He was not featured in the Netflix docuseries “Full Swing” and won’t be in the second season, either. He cited a driver change – his old one was deemed non-conforming – and his work with coach Pullin for his turnaround.

Here's a look at the equipment that Sam Burns used to win his fifth career PGA Tour title at the WGC-Match Play.

McIlroy was beaten by Cameron Young, who then lost 6&5 to Burns in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play final.

“And then I hit some good shots in the play-off, then I missed a shorty there on 13. “It’s a bit frustrating, but I put up a good fight today. Especially towards the end of the round I hit a lot of putts that I thought were going in that didn’t. “I felt like I found something towards the end of my match with Scottie and was able to carry that on this afternoon. I hit a bunch of lips today. To be able to battle with him today, it was a blast.”

A frentic final week at Austin Country Club ends with a get-right victory for Sam Burns over a still winless Cameron Young.

To some extent, it gave this week an air of nostalgia, melancholy or something in between, and it was possible to feel that energy on Sunday as the Austin era came to a close. Match play on the PGA Tour is a finicky beast; always seemingly on the verge of collapse, frequently maligned, yet routinely delivering far more than you expect. Credit where its due, though; this tournament gave us an exciting farewell, even with his anticlimactic finish, and the ending was appropriate in its way. If what the broader world desired most was Scheffler and McIlroy dueling it out as the last players in the very last match of the WGC-Match Play, they got exactly what they wanted. The odd dichotomy between these two players is that Young, despite being winless, has already had great early success in majors (two top-three finishes last year), while Burns, just a year older, has now won five times on tour but has yet to register anything better than a T-20 at majors. As all thoughts turn now to Augusta, let's spare one last backward glance for Austin and the Austin Country Club, which has hosted the WGC-Match Play since 2016. … I'm just so thankful that he was out there with me battling every step of the way and thankful that we were the last one standing." Still, he deserve some pity anyway—he was at the top of the strokes gained leaderboards all week, in every category, and didn't play badly against Burns. You could perhaps extend that metaphor to this match itself—it may have not lived up to what came before, but it had the courtesy to end early. As for those shadows cast over Burns, the longest on Sunday was perhaps the anticipation of a McIlroy-Scheffler dream final turned not-much-consolation third-place match. As late as the 17th and 18th holes on Sunday morning, this outcome still seemed not just possible, but likely. That sealed a date with Young, who [also went to extra holes to defeat a juggernaut (Rory McIlroy)](https://www.golfdigest.com/story/rory-mcilroy-falls-cameron-young-wgc-dell-match-play-semifinals).