Michael Thorbjornsen (born September 16, 2001) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

and

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

player. He was runner-up at the 2024

John Deere Classic The John Deere Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in July, usually the week before The Open Championship, at TPC Deere Run in the Quad Cities community of Silvis, Illinois. History The tournament bega ...

and the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship.

Early life and family

Thorbjornsen was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. He is the son of Thorbjørn Thorbjørnsen, a Norwegian, and Sandra Chiang, a Zimbabwean who was a golfer at

Ursuline College Ursuline College is a private Catholic college in Pepper Pike, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1871 by the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland and is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States and the ...

. He first tried golf at two years old. His siblings are Victoria Lotus, Michelle Caprise and Teresa Corniche.

Amateur career

Thorbjornsen won the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur at

Baltusrol Golf Club The Baltusrol Golf Club is a private 36-hole golf club in the eastern United States, located in Springfield, New Jersey, about west of New York City. It was founded in 1895 by Louis Keller. In 1985, Baltusrol became the first club to have ...

. The win qualified him for the 2019 U.S. Open at

Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public golf course located in Pebble Beach, California, U.S. Opened in 1919, it is regarded as one of the most beautiful courses in the world. It hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of Carmel Bay, o ...

, where he made the cut, the first U.S. Junior Amateur champion to do so since the exemption was introduced. In 2020, Thorbjornsen graduated from Wellesley High School and enrolled at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, joining the Stanford Cardinal men's golf team. He reached the quarterfinals of the 2020

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

at Bandon Dunes. He won the 2021

Western Amateur The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association. The Western Amateur features an international field of top-ranked amateur golfers. It was firs ...

and

Massachusetts Amateur The Massachusetts State Amateur Championship, better known as the Massachusetts Amateur, is a golf championship held in Massachusetts for the state's top amateur golfers. The tournament is run by the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA) in mid-July ...

, defeating 2017

U.S. Mid-Amateur The U.S. Mid-Amateur, often called the Mid-Am for short, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for post-college amateur golfers, organized by the USGA. It was first played in at Bellerive Country Club in Creve Coeur, Missour ...

champion Matt Parziale in the final match. He played on the

2022 Eisenhower Trophy The 2022 Eisenhower Trophy took place 31 August – 3 September at Le Golf National and Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche south-west of Paris, France. It was the 32nd World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy. Defending champion was ...

and

2022 Arnold Palmer Cup The 2022 Arnold Palmer Cup was a team golf competition to be held from 1–3 July 2022 at Golf Club de Genève, Vandœuvres, Switzerland. It was the 26th time the event had been contested and the fifth under the new format in which women golfers p ...

teams. Thorbjornsen qualified for his second U.S. Open in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

via an 8-for-3 playoff at Century and Old Oaks Country Clubs in Purchase, New York, after shooting 2-under 138 over 36 holes. Thorbjornsen finished 4th in the 2022

Travelers Championship The Travelers Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Cromwell, Connecticut, a suburb south of Hartford. Since 1984 the tournament has been held at TPC River Highlands. It is managed by The Greater Hartford Community Fou ...

at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. Because Thorbjornsen was competing as an amateur,

Chesson Hadley Chesson Tyler Hadley (born July 5, 1987) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Hadley was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on July 5, 1987, to Russell and Edna Ruth Hadley. He started playing golf at North ...

, who finished 5th, took home the $406,700 in prize money that would have otherwise gone to Thorbjornsen.

Professional career

Thorbjornsen finished at the top of the PGA Tour University rankings for 2024, earning him a PGA Tour card for the remainder of 2024 and all of the 2025 season. He turned professional in June 2024. In his third start, he was runner-up at the

. In 2025, he was runner-up at the Corales Puntacana Championship, a stroke behind

Garrick Higgo Garrick Higgo (born 12 May 1999) is a South African professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. He has won three times on the European Tour, winning the 2020 Open de Portugal and the Gran Canaria ...

Amateur wins

*2018 U.S. Junior Amateur, PING Invitational *2021

*2022 OFCC Fighting Illini Invite *2023 Pac-12 Men's Golf Championships *2024 Cabo Collegiate Invitational Source:

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

U.S. national team appearances

Junior Ryder Cup The Junior Ryder Cup is a team golf competition between Europe and the United States for junior golfers aged 18 and under. It is based on the men's Ryder Cup and is run by the same organisations, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe. The 2018 ...

: 2018 (winners) *

Junior Presidents Cup The Junior Presidents Cup is a junior team golf competition between the United States and an International team representing the rest of the world excluding Europe. It is based around the Presidents Cup and is run by the PGA Tour and American Juni ...

: 2019 (winners) *

Arnold Palmer Cup The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team golf competition for college/university golfers. It is named for Arnold Palmer. From 2018 it has been contested between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world. The ...

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorbjornsen, Michael American male golfers Stanford Cardinal men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Sportspeople from Wellesley, Massachusetts Golfers from Cleveland Golfers from Massachusetts 2001 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen