Sam Burns has already noticed a change in the greens at Augusta this year

Sam Burns has enjoyed an absolute dream start to The Masters, ending his first round as the early clubhouse leader.

Burns carded a 5-under 67 in his opening round at Augusta National, which included an eagle on the second hole.

The American also hit four birdies, 12 pars and one bogey as he set the pace at The Masters, the first major championship of 2026.

Burns is making his fifth start at the tournament this year, with a T29 finish in 2023 representing his best run so far.

But he is now in contention for a maiden major win following a strong start, after which he discussed the conditions at Augusta.

Sam Burns notices firm greens at Augusta National

When it was suggested in his post-round press conference that the course is perhaps playing more firm than it has in recent years, he said: “Yeah, I would say so.

“I think the past few years we’ve gotten rain at some point in the week, early in the week. You could definitely see it even from Monday to today how much firmer the greens are.

“They’re only going to get firmer. I think as the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there, and I think it’s going to be a really good test.”

And when asked if being the early leader relieves pressure or increases it, Burns replied: “Like I said earlier, I think this golf course is so tricky that you kind of try to get lost in your kind of process out there and just try to execute.

Sam Burns praises his caddie after career-best 67 at Augusta

Burns has only made two cuts from his four starts at The Masters, showing just how difficult he has found life at Augusta.

But he knows what it takes to succeed on the greens more than most, with the American having topped the entire PGA Tour for Strokes Gained: Putting in 2025.

Doing his best to share the secret of his success in round one at Augusta amid a high scoring average in the field, he said: “I think just getting the ball in the green a ton is what I tried to do, even if it was 30 feet.

“You know, a lot of these hole locations, they kind of try to tempt you to hit one close. You can make a bogey very quickly.

“You know, credit to Travis [Perkins, his caddie] trying to pull the reins back at times. So I think overall we did a good job of that today.”

And discussing his lay-up on hole 13 at Amen Corner, he said: “Yeah, I wish I could have gotten there too into the wind.

“I hit kind of a spinny drive and just couldn’t get there. I had to chip it down there around the corner.

“I was trying to get a little further up to the right to make the pitch shot a little bit easier, but I was able to hit a nice pitch in there to, I don’t know, 10 or 12 feet and hole the putt.”

Burns was also tasked with picking his shot of the day, of which he said: “I mean, I would say my second shot into two was pretty nice.

“With the wind off the left, you know, kind of that back middle hole location, kind of played it up there 20, 25 feet left of the hole and let it feed in. It’s obviously a nice way to start the day.”

It was indeed a superb start to the day for Burns, who has just gone one better than his previous low round of 68 at Augusta.

That should provide him with huge confidence for the second round, although he was eventually joined in the clubhouse lead by Rory McIlroy.

While it will be very difficult to fend off the defending champion, Burns could benefit from McIlroy stealing the limelight on day two.

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