PGA Tour Pro Wants To Put His Name Alongside Tiger Woods

Dean Burmester only secured his PGA Tour card in last month’s Korn Ferry Tour Finals, but he’s already set the lofty ambition of partly emulating hero Tiger Woods.

The World No.58 has not taken long to make his mark on the Tour, finishing fourth in the Sanderson Farms Championship, but he sees that as just the beginning, with Woods as his inspiration. He said: “I'm like pretty much everybody else my age and younger. Everyone grew up watching Tiger winning amazing historic events on the PGA Tour, and I want to come out here and try and put my name next to his on some of those trophies. It's pretty simple.”

Burmester has 10 professional wins in his career so far, including two in the DP World Tour, with the most recent of those coming in last year’s Tenerife Open. However, his immediate focus is on the PGA Tour. He said: “I'm going to support the Tour. They've been so good to me, so I'm going to try and plan a schedule next year as best I can.”

That doesn’t mean the South African is turning his back on the DP World Tour that helped make his name, though, and he is considering playing in one of its tournaments next month. He said: "I might go back to the Nedbank Golf Challenge back home in South Africa. I'm in that, so I might go back and support that if I keep this kind of form up.”

The 33-year-old also pointed to the closer strategic alliance between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour as the perfect opportunity for him to make an impact. He said: “Everything has kind of panned out, and the timing couldn't be better with the relationship of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, and gives me a little bit of freedom, and I can just go out there and free-wheel it and play the best I can.”

As well as the Sanderson Farms Championship, Burmester enjoyed some success in another PGA Tour event, finishing tied for 10th in July’s co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open. With a solid start to the 2022/23 season secured, he’ll be confident he won't need to wait too long to secure his first PGA Tour victory - and the chance to follow in the footsteps of the 82-time winner.