Sam Burns fell short of backing up his maiden PGA Tour victory with a win at the ATT Byron Nelson, but his second-place finish did push him further into the United States Ryder Cup team conversation.

Burns, 24, finished in solo second place at TPC Craig Ranch, vaulting eight spots in both the Official World Golf Rankings (No. 36) and the U.S. Ryder Cup team points standings (No. 16).

The top six players following the Tour Championship will earn automatic spots, with captain Steve Stricker then selecting the final six team members.

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson remains atop the U.S. Ryder Cup standings despite withdrawing from his third event of 2021 last week. He is followed by Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka in the top six.

Patrick Reed, Tony Finau, Daniel Berger and Webb Simpson round out the top 10.

Burns has put himself on Stricker's radar the past two weeks. He was in contention at the Houston Open in November (T7) and the Genesis Invitational (3rd) in February, but was unable to close over the weekend in those events.

Burns broke through with his three-shot win at the Valspar Championship earlier this month. He backed it up with his second place at the Byron Nelson, where he held the 54-hole lead only to be surpassed by K.H. Lee's 66 on Sunday to win by three shots.

The U.S. will take on Team Europe at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in September's Ryder Cup, which was postponed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second major of the year will take place this week at Kiawah Island, S.C., where Burns is being offered at 6000 by DraftKings, just behind fellow rising star Will Zalatoris (5500).

--Field Level Media