Burns’ balancing act

There’s a hectic life and then there’s Peyton Burns’ life.

Last week alone, the Kingfisher High School senior traveled 1,954 miles to take part in golf and FFA competitions.

His whirlwind tour took him from Kingfisher to Ada to Jenks to Hennessey to Warner to Stillwater to Miami to Lubbock and then back home, all in a span of six days.

“That’s just a normal week for me right now,” said Burns.

After spending a couple of nights at home, he awoke and shot a 2-under-par 68 on Monday to lead KHS to a fourth-place finish at its own large-school invitational at Kingfisher Golf Course.

The Jackets shot a 290 in the Maxwell format.

Oklahoma Christian School won the tournament with a 270, Heritage Hall was second at 275 and Guthrie third at 277 (see related story).

Those three teams won the 3A, 4A and 5A state championships, respectively, last season.

“Our score was solid,” said KHS golf coach Chris Combs. “Our guys had good and bad patches.“Consistent contact and distance control need to keep improving if we’re going to continue to drop our score.”

Colby Campbell shot a 72 and Caleb Cameron a 75 for KHS.

Campbell was steady throughout, but couldn’t get birdie putts to drop. He posted 16 pars for his round. Cameron’s day was more up-and-down. While he managed four birdies, he also had seven holes in which he was over-par.

Logun Burnham followed with an 82 and Caden Hill shot an 89.

Playing as an individual, Garrett States carded a solid 78.

Earlier this school year, Burns was considering golf at the collegiate level. As a junior, he tied for ninth at the Class 3A state tournament and has a number of schools showing interest. However, over Christmas break, Burns decided Oklahoma State was his future.

“Honestly, playing golf in college isn’t really in my heart,” he said. “I prayed about it during the winter and decided I just want to go to OSU, maybe work at Karsten Creek and enjoy my life for once.

“I’ve been so busy in my four years of high school, it will be nice to finally stay ahead in classes.”

Of course, Burns can’t do “normal” like everyone else.

He’s currently campaigning to be the State FFA reporter for 2019-20. He’ll speak on stage later this month at the State FFA Convention before officers are elected.

“Once I decided I wanted to go to OSU, I took off about three months from golf,” he said.

Instead of chipping and putting, he’s attended more Career and Leadership Development Events (CDE) and speech contests and he also visited a lot of county and district stock shows.

“They let you introduce yourself on the microphone and then I just go talk to the kids and get to know them,” Burns said. “It’s a whole lot of fun for me because I like talking to the kids and the ag teachers, especially at places I’ve never been before.”

Such places are dwindling as the miles rack up for Burns and he admits it’s taken him longer than normal to find his golf groove because of it.

“Today’s round felt alright,” he said of his score, which tied him for sixth individually in a loaded field that featured at least four future Division I golfers.

“I really like the way I’m putting right now.”  

Burns had just 29 putts on the day and caught fire when he had three birdies in a four-hole stretch (5, 7 and 8). He then made six consecutive pars to close out his round (KHS started its round on the 15th hole).

“Peyton was pretty solid all day,” Combs said. “He hit a lot of fairways and greens.”

“I could have gone a little lower if I would have gotten a few wedge shots closer,” said Burns, who left the course and headed straight to Stillwater for yet another event.

“But I’ll always take a round under-par, especially this year when I haven’t been able to get out to the course as often as usual.”