Wayzata’s Burnham finds competition while awaiting 2nd LPGA season
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After missing the cut in the first five tournaments she entered as an LPGA rookie in 2019, Sarah Burnham turned a corner when she made the cut at the Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine – playing just down the road from where she grew up. She went on to finish the season with a run of five made cuts.
In that closing run she earned her best finish, a ninth-place result at the Cambia Portland Classic in August.
Burnham seemed poised for a big breakout season in 2020.
Then, along with the rest of the sports world, the LPGA season was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic – putting Burnham’s sophomore season on the Tour on hold.
However, Burnham found a way to try to keep her momentum going while staying tournament-ready whenever the LPGA Tour resumes play.
Wayzata-grad Sarah Burnham holds the trophy earned in one of her two tournament wins this spring on the regional Cactus Tour in Arizona[Sarah Burnham]
Click the video box on this page to see KSTP Sports’ story on Sarah Burnham as well as Chris Long’s full conversation with Sarah about how she stayed sharp during the pandemic and the high hopes she has for her second season on the LGPA Tour
She had spent the offseason in Arizona, and was there when the word came down that the LPGA season was going to be put on hold.
That’s when Burnham found the Cactus Tour – a small semi-pro circuit that plays in Arizona. With no stay-at-home orders in place in Arizona during early stages of the pandemic, the Cactus Tour played on – and Burnham signed up.
She won two tournaments but, maybe more importantly, found a way to keep competing while the LPGA was on hold.
Burnham eventually traveled to Florida where she shared a house with her parents and continued to prepare.
In Florida, she entered a tournament on another regional tour – the Eggland’s Best Ladies Pro Golf Tour. She won a tournament there in early June.
Burnham won a Minnesota High School state championship at Wayzata in 2013.
In college at Michigan State, she qualified as an amateur for the Women’s U.S. Open in 2015 and was a two-time Big Ten Golfer of the Year in both 2017 and 2018.
The most recent plan announced by the LPGA is an intention to begin the 2020 season at the Marathon Classic in Ohio in late-July.
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