Burnham Headed to U.S. Women's Open After Carding 151 at Windsong Farm

USGA

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  INDEPENDENCE, Minn. – At the age of 19, Sarah Burnham has more accolades, medals and trophies than most amateur golfers could ever aspire to accumulate.

Over the last three seasons Burnham has compiled 12 amateur victories and has been named Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Player of the Year, as well as three consecutive MGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year honors.

Just weeks after completing her freshman season at Michigan State University, Burnham notched possibly her most impressive and important victory as she carded a 9-over par 151 at Windsong Farm Monday to earn medalist honors and clinch a spot in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open Championship.

“I’m kind of in shock to be honest," Burnham said with a smile after her round Monday. “This is the only thing I’ve ever dreamed about. I don’t care about going pro or anything, I just wanted to play in one U.S. Open. That’s it—that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Burnham opened the two-round sectional qualifier with a 3-over par 74 in horrid conditions to take a three-shot lead into the second round before shooting a 6-over par 77 during the afternoon session to grab the lone qualifying spot by three shots over Stanford University’s Casey Danielson, who finished as first qualifier at 154.

“I’ve played this course before but I wasn’t expecting much, to be honest, because I’ve been struggling with my swing, but I started out pretty well with par-birdie-birdie,” Burnham said of her first round. “I wasn’t nervous or anything so I was able to play my game. On the back I struggled hitting greens and had trouble getting up and down, so I was happy shooting 74 even though I was plus five on the back.”

Temperatures stayed in the 40s for most of the day with wind gusts reaching 40 mph, something Burnham felt gave her an edge over other players in the field.

“It was cold and I had a lot of layers on but I guess I’m used to it. It probably affected players from further south more because I’ve played in those conditions before,” she said.

Burnham, Maple Grove, Minn., began the opening round Monday with back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes and would make the turn at 2-under. She ran into trouble on the back nine with a bogey at the 10th and back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th to fall to 1-over.

After her par putt at the par-3 16th failed to drop, Burnham made a double-bogey at the 17th to go to 4-over. Burnham rolled in her birdie chance on the final hole to limit the damage and finish the opening round with a 3-over par 74.

Burnham got off to a shaky start to the second round with back-to-back bogeys on the first two holes before making another pair of bogeys at the fifth and sixth holes to quickly find herself at 4-over for the round.

Strong off the tee all day long, Burnham found the fairway more often than not and cruised over the final 12 holes with 10 pars and what she considered “a good bogey and a bad bogey” as she finished the second round with a par, lipping her birdie putt to shoot 77.

“I was pretty excited because I was playing well and I think I lost my focus a little during the second round. I missed some greens and put myself in bad positions and I wasn’t able to get up and down. It’s hard to make birdies out here,” she said.

Her breakout season came in 2012 when she won four amateur titles, including the Minnesota Section Junior PGA Championship, Twin Cities Junior Championship, Minnesota Women’s Public Golf Association Public Links Championship and the Minnesota Women’s Amateur.

In 2013 Burnham won the Class 3A Minnesota State Championship as a junior at Wayzata High School before winning her second Twin Cities Junior Championship. She carded a 67 to break the course record at the Wilds Golf Club en route to a Minnesota Women’s State Open victory.

Last season she won her third straight Twin Cities Junior Championship but added a Minnesota Women’s Four-Ball title as well as the Minnesota Women’s Public Golf Association Match Play Championship, Minnesota Junior PGA and Minnesota Junior Girls’ Championship to her already lengthy golf resume.

The U.S. Women’s Open July 9-12 at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pa., will not be Burnham’s first experience on the national stage. She’s advanced to the match play portion of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur and, most recently, the U.S. Women’s Amateur last year at Nassau Country Club.

Accustomed to winning at every level she’s played, the transition to collegiate golf appeared effortless as Burnham finished tied for sixth during her first tournament in September.

By the time the spring season came around in February, Burnham admitted she was struggling on and off the course.

“I expected to shoot 70s and that didn’t happen and I thought things would get better. It was hard to deal with school and living on your own—there is a lot put on you,” she said. “I felt like my classes got harder and it was a lot more pressure that I had to deal with, but you just try to get used to it.”

Burnham opened the spring finishing tied for 85th at the Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., failing to break 80 during her three rounds. At her next event in New Orleans, she finished tied for 76th after starting the tournament with an 86.

“I was like, ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’ I almost wanted to quit after that,” Burnham said.

Things began to turn quickly for Burnham as she finished inside the top-30 during her final four tournaments, including an 18th-place finish at the Big Ten Championship in April.

“I started to do better in school and I worked with my coaches more and things started to get better,” she said.

Burnham walked away from the clubhouse at Windsong Farm Monday with her Michigan State bag hurled over her shoulder and her medals for overall low score and low amateur in her hand.

She can confidently brush any doubts aside as she is still one of the best the state has ever seen.