Henry McKenna
NFL Reporter
Jordan Burmester, a fourth-grader, stepped onto the stage at his school to participate in a piano recital. It was what the school called a “MAD evening” for music, arts and drama. At the end of the performance, the Burmester family applauded loudly, as they took up about half of the audience. Among them was LIV Golf star Dean Burmester — with a tear in his eye.
It was a rare treat for Burmester, who admitted that, as a pro athlete, he’s missed more events in his son Jordan’s life than he’d like. But since joining LIV, with fewer events than the PGA Tour, it’s much easier for Burmester to show up for his family.
“I’ve missed a lot of his life,” Burmester said. “I’ve missed birthdays. I’ve missed so many things. So for me to sit there and be able to do that with him, and sit in the crowd, and, I’ll be honest, shed a little tear and be so proud of him, was special.”
Dean Burmester of Stinger GC currently sits 9th in the individual LIV Golf standings.
Burmester is in his third season on the LIV Golf tour and the move has given his family the flexibility to move back to South Africa. That brings peace of mind for Burmester at so many levels, including this weekend as he gets ready for LIV Golf Dallas. Melissa Burmester, his wife, came down with a virus this week and has needed help with childcare. And because they’re around family in South Africa — as opposed to in Jupiter, Florida, which they left in October — the grandparents are in the house to take care of Burmester’s two sons.
So Burmester can approach this tournament at Maridoe Golf Club with the focus it requires.
The conditions will be difficult. The rough “is pretty brutal,” Burmester said. “It’s very U.S. Open-like. Just hack it out with a lob wedge.”
Everyone will be trying to keep it on the fairways, which is good because — at this time last year — Stinger GC had the best fairway percentage of any team at LIV Golf Dallas. Burmester will need to hit a lot of them.
It’s not just LIV Golf Dallas that’s at stake for him. There’s also the matter of The Open Championship next month. Burmester has yet to qualify. And there are a few permutations where he could solidify his spot this weekend at Maridoe by leaping past Sergio Garcia in the rankings.
“[The Open] is on my radar,” he said. “This week I’ve got an opportunity, obviously, to guarantee a spot in there and get in, but then I’m flying from here straight to the UK [for the Royal Cinque Ports final qualifying site] to plan a qualify next week, Tuesday, if I don’t get in this week.”
Dean Burmester hopes a strong showing in Dallas can get him into The Open Championship.
Burmester finished 19th last year at The Open. If he’s teeing off at Royal Portrush in North Ireland on July 17, he expects to be dangerous.
“It’s my favorite major that I’ve played in,” he said. “It’s actually the one out of the three [majors] that I have played that I feel like I’ve got the best chance at, because I genuinely like to carry a one- and a two-iron, and if the weather gets bad, it kind of plays into my favor. I’m not really scared of that one. So I’m really hoping to get in there and put in the work and see what happens. It takes four good days of golf and then you’re an Open champion, or a major champion. So that’s what my goal is. … Hopefully, beat some of the best players in the world.”
To get in, he’ll need to win LIV Golf Dallas (and see Garcia finish outside the top three). Or, he’ll have to snag one of the five spots up for grabs at qualifying, which will feature a deep pool of competition.
There are complications with LIV golfers getting majors invites, which one of the reasons the decision to join the LIV Golf tour isn’t without complications for any golfer.
In some ways, Burmester was behind schedule on the PGA Tour, not getting his card until he was 33, much older than most first-timers. He played in just eight events as a card-carrier and made seven cuts. But during that time, he got a call from Stinger GC — where three of his friends (Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace) from South Africa were teammates — and they felt like he was the missing piece.
But the initial decision to join LIV was one he had to make carefully with his wife.
“I certainly had to weigh quite a lot of things — weigh my own dreams in that sense,” Burmester said. “What you dreamt of as a little kid, playing and competing in majors. Obviously, at that time, still a little bit of uncertainty as to where we [LIV] were going.
“In the end, it was just the perfect fit for me, and I wouldn’t look back for one second. It’s been the best thing I could have done for my career, obviously, from a financial point of view, but also from a time point of view.”
His team has been the perfect fit for him.
While traveling, he and his teammates will wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. — or whatever hour necessary — to watch South Africa’s national rugby team, the Springboks, play. During the golf season, during Schwartzel’s birthday, the Stinger GC crew went out to the bush in South Africa with their families for a long weekend. And every October, the four players head to Scotland to play the Alfred Dunhill Links.
“We love each other. We get on like a family,” Burmester said. “We move as a unit all over the world.”
Burmester is making up for lost time at home and on the course. He had a terrific 2024 season, both in majors, where he had a pair of top-20 finishes, and in LIV Golf, where he won LIV Golf Miami — his first individual title since joining the tour. He’s doing exactly what he said he wants to be doing: beating some of the best players in the world.
“That win in Miami was something I’ve always wanted to do — to beat the field like that, to beat a guy like Sergio in a playoff,” Burmester said. “As a kid, I dreamt of doing it. It doesn’t matter where I do it. As a professional and as a sportsman, you still want to beat the best, and you want to compete and win golf tournaments.”
Dean Burmester celebrates with teammate Louis Oosthuizen after winning LIV Golf Miami in 2024.
This year, Burmester missed the cut at the PGA Championship. But he enjoyed a podium at LIV Golf Hong Kong. That was a victory unto itself. He couldn’t take down Garcia again, who took first place. But … he did manage to take down an even bigger legend.
Burmester birdied the final hole of the weekend, and pulled into second place — ahead of Phil Mickelson. It was (almost) a million-dollar putt. Burmester took home $2.25 million and Mickelson took home $1.5 million for third place. When Burmester finished the hole, Mickelson was there waiting for him.
“Did you birdie your last hole?” Mickelson asked.
“Yeah, Phil, I did,” Burmester said.
“Well f— you,” he said, and then he started laughing.
There’s a narrative out there that some players might get complacent on the LIV Golf tour. That’s certainly not Burmester, who’s out to win LIV Golf Dallas and who’s out to win The Open Championship.
Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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