A force stepped onto the PGA Tour this summer. His name is Michael Thorbjornsen.
I’m buying stock in the recent Stanford University graduate because somehow, despite his stacked resume of accolades as an amateur, he remains underrated and undervalued in a market where all the focus is on bolstering the current stars.
Last season, the PGA Tour University program fast-tracked Ludvig Aberg, the robotic-swinging Swede, to the big leagues. He found immediate success. Aberg rose to top five in the world, contended at the Masters and made a European Ryder Cup team in his first year out of Texas A&M. Now, the second PGA Tour U graduate, Thorbjornsen, is here — Why can’t he make a similar splash?
The Aberg comparisons will be made all season long, but Thorbjornsen’s collegiate coach saw his potential mirror that of one of the best players in the modern era, instead. Upon meeting him as a recruit, Stanford men’s golf coach Conrad Ray was struck by the physical and competitive resemblance.
“(Thorbjornsen) reminded me of a young Dustin Johnson,” Ray said. “When he knows he’s on, he just looks at his target and swings hard and he hits shots that other people can’t hit. When Michael plays his best, he plays free.”
Known in elite amateur golf circles as “Thor,” Thorbjornsen grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and has been a stalwart of the up-and-coming class of young talent since his marquee amateur golf accomplishment: He beat rising PGA Tour star Akshay Bhatia on the 36th hole of the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur championship match at Baltusrol. As a high school sophomore, Thorbjornsen committed to Stanford, and he went on to win a slew of high-profile amateur events. He captured three individual collegiate titles and 19 top-10 finishes. The first-team All-American also made four PGA Tour cuts as an amateur. At the 2022 Travelers Championship, he flirted with a win. The 20-year-old college sophomore ultimately settled for a T4 finish, with a pair of 66s on the weekend.
Michael Thorbjornsen shoots 72 in his first round as a pro. His stats:
Driving Distance: 332.9 (1st)
Longest Drive: 361 (1st)
SG: OTT: +0.68 (20th)
GIR: 14/18 (13th)
Driving Accuracy: 9/14 (26th)
SG: Putting: -3.1 (69th)— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) June 20, 2024
Thorbjornsen never reached the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking — he got as high as No. 2 — and didn’t threaten the Stanford program record of 11 collegiate wins (held, in part, by Tiger Woods). Blame injuries that Thorbjornsen battled throughout most of his collegiate career — once a back and ankle issue simultaneously — but he still managed to come out with a trifecta of wins and that No. 1 PGA Tour University spot. Upon turning professional, Thorbjornsen earned full tour membership for the remainder of 2024 and full 2025 seasons.
Thorbjornsen’s game has a special sort of potential. PGA Tour-caliber courses and set-ups allow him to unleash his sharpest weapon — the driver.
“Having played with Tiger and all the greats, watching all these guys over time, Michael is the best driver of the golf ball that I’ve ever seen,” Ray said. With 58 recorded drives since his professional debut in June, Thorbjornsen’s driving average of 316.3 yards would put him at No. 5 on the PGA Tour, six yards behind leader Cameron Champ and four behind Rory McIlroy.
Of course there’s more to the game than simply bombing drives into the ether. But on the PGA Tour in particular, placing your tee shot closer to the hole is almost always statistically advantageous. According to Cory Jez, a statistician for PGA Tour players, 15 yards off the tee can be worth approximately half a stroke per round. That adds up.
Thorbjornsen is ranked 25th in driving distance compared to 358th in driving accuracy, per DataGolf. For comparison, the reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau ranks first in distance and 339th in accuracy. In more cases than not, distance is king on the PGA Tour, regardless of iffy dispersion patterns. A longer drive will almost always put you in a better position to go low.
Thorbjornsen has already proven in many ways that his skill goes beyond power. In 10 professional starts, the 23-year-old has made six cuts and three top 10s. He came in a tie for second at the John Deere Classic with a tournament total of 24-under-par and tied for eighth at both the Sanderson Farms Championship and the RSM Classic.
Thorbjornsen is already making a name for himself statistically, in multiple categories. According to The Athletic contributor Justin Ray, Thorbjornsen’s average of 4.93 birdies per round was more than Scottie Scheffler (4.88) in 2024. Thorbjornsen successfully converted 37.2 percent of his birdie and eagle opportunities. If ranked (Thorbjornsen currently has not played enough professional rounds to qualify), that would put him at No. 2 on the PGA Tour, trailing only Sam Burns. Thorbjornsen hit 72 percent of greens in regulation in 29 rounds, which would put him seventh on tour.
In his last three starts of 2024, Thorbjornson posted two T8s and shot an opening round 67 before a tweak in his knee forced him to withdraw. He’s finding a groove amidst a largely unfamiliar lifestyle, learning how to blend his style of play with the challenge posed by PGA Tour courses. Thorbjornsen finished the year with a burst of momentum. He’s poised to keep it going in 2025.
“If he locks in on something, he convinces himself that’s what he needs to do or accomplish,” Conrad Ray said. “It’s a little scary.”
(Top photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
