Sam Burns prime for Ryder Cup: putting as U.S. strength at Bethpage Black

Sam Burns has been identified as a critical asset for the United States Ryder Cup team heading into the matches at Bethpage Black, largely because of one skill: putting. He sits at the top of the PGA Tour in several putting metrics, including strokes gained: putting and putting inside 10 feet, and he ranks among the leaders in total one-putts between 10 and 15 feet. He is also high in total putts per round and three-putt avoidance. Those numbers help explain why he was selected among the 12 players on the U.S. squad, with team officials emphasizing how Burns can swing a match when the pressure is highest.

Burns has spent years refining a craft that can decide tournaments, and the Ryder Cup is no exception. On a practice day ahead of the matches, he described his mindset in straightforward terms. Burns said, "I try to keep my putting very simple." He added that there are inevitable greenside imperfections, but the key is to stay in his process: "There are a lot of imperfections on greens, so many things can happen for the ball to go in or not to go in. So for me, I just go through my process of trying to hit a good putt and then once I hit the putt, let it go."

Burns’ supporters point to more than a single stat line. He leads the tour in several measures of putting efficiency and consistency, and his overall proficiency translates to a confidence that teammates notice. Ben Griffin, who has watched Burns up close, called him "one of the most confident putters in the world." Griffin characterized Burns as aggressive with the line he chooses and unafraid to press farther if a putt is misread, trusting that the next one will come when it matters most. "If he misses a putt, he’s not afraid to hit it a few feet by because he’s going to make the one coming back. That’s the type of player you want on a Ryder Cup team. It’s going to be fun to watch him make a bunch of putts at Bethpage."

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and Burns’s close friend, is expected to be paired with him at least once this week. Scheffler observed Burns’ technique and the mental rhythm that allows him to stay free over the ball. "He’s got really good technique. His fundamentals are really good. He works on them daily,” Scheffler said. The fellow Texan added a broader compliment about Burns’ mindset: the secret sauce, as he called it, is Burns’ belief that every putt is going in. "Sam does as a great a job of being free over a putt as anybody I’ve ever seen. Mentally, he’s really tough. He does a really good job of staying free and loose while he’s putting. He does his little aim-point stuff, he does it very quickly and he kind of gets an idea where he wants to, and then it’s like everything else shuts off and he just hits it. It’s pretty impressive. I’ve talked to him about it numerous times, the way he does it. That’s kind of something that’s helped my putting as well, trying to become more athletic, be more visual. I think we all can learn from each other out here. Just because you’re good at one thing doesn’t mean you can’t learn from somebody else. His consistency with the putter is pretty amazing, because you’ll get guys that have really good putting years and then tail off. But Sam, year in and year out, is right on top."

J.J. Spaun also weighed in, praising Burns and Russell Henley as outstanding putters and noting a common denominator in their approach. "They’re just very deliberate in their routines and their deliveries. They’ve got a good tempo with routine and they don’t second-guess. They pick their spots and go. The thing with great putters is just how often the ball goes in the hole, and that just kind of breeds more putts going in. Sam knows he’s going to start the ball online, he knows he’s going to have good speed, it’s just whether it goes in or not."

The Ryder Cup contest is staged at Bethpage Black this year, a course that tests the precision and nerve of elite players under team pressure. The U.S. roster has built its strategy around Burns’s prowess on the greens, banking on him delivering consistent speed control and confident reads when match results hinge on a single stroke. With Scheffler likely to pair with Burns at least once, the friendship and shared experience between the two players could amplify the pairings’ effectiveness, especially given Scheffler’s acknowledgment of Burns’s deliberate routines and fast, free tempo.

Burns reached the scene with a practiced routine on Sept. 25, 2025, when Ryder Cup practice rounds drew crowds and media attention. His presence and performance in those rounds underscored the team’s longer-term plan: capitalize on Burns’s elite putting to win the handful of crucial holes that can swing a match at Bethpage. While putts-per-round and short-game metrics point to Burns’ strength, the human element—daily preparation, mental resilience, and the ability to stay in the moment when pressure builds—also factors heavily into the U.S. approach.

As the matches unfold, Burns’s impact is expected to be felt in multiple formats, including foursomes and four-ball sessions where every stroke counts and a single putt can tilt an entire hole. The U.S. team will monitor how the field responds to Burns’s approach, with the anticipation that his putter will be a deciding factor more often than not. If Burns can sustain his level under Ryder Cup intensity, the data-driven and peer-validated assessments suggest his putting alone could be the catalyst for the U.S. squad’s success at Bethpage Black.