The Awkward Moment Sam Burns Discovered He Was On The 2023 Ryder Cup Team

To find out you have been selected to represent your country or continent in the Ryder Cup is surely one of the proudest and most memorable moments in a career for a professional golfer.

Team USA’s Sam Burns was one of six players this year for the United States fortunate enough to experience the elation of that much sought after phone call, but it may not have been in the circumstances he dreamt of…

To use Burns’ own description, he was actually “mid-poop” when Captain Johnson put in the call to pass on the good news! Burns and his wife Caroline had headed out for a coffee to take their mind off things and upon returning home, nature called.

“When I got home, I had to go to the bathroom, like, bathroom bathroom!” Burns describes, “So literally, as soon as I sit down, Justin started texting, like have you heard anything yet? And while I am responding to him, Zach calls me!”

“So, I, of course had to answer. I answer and he’s like, hey, I just you know, kind of small talk and then he was like, as the captain of the, you know, US team, I just want to officially invite you and I’m like mid-poop and then I start crying!”

No matter the circumstances of the call, Burns was obviously thrilled with the news, “It was really cool, and that’s real life right there!”

Making the Ryder Cup team was a huge goal for Burns. 

"Coming into this year, making this team was very high on my goal list I guess you could call it. After the Tour Championship, I wasn’t really sure. I knew I was close and thought it could go a couple different ways. So yeah, to get the call on Monday morning was really special."

Burns got his Ryder Cup underway in the opening foursomes match of the event with his close friend Scottie Scheffler. It wasn't the debut he would have hoped for as the US pair went down 4&3 to Europe's John Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.