In third pro start, Michael Thorbjornsen shares second at John Deere Classic

The hard evidence continues to pile up: PGA TOUR University grads are ready to compete at professional golf’s highest level. Immediately.

Michael Thorbjornsen finished runner-up Sunday at the John Deere Classic, making six straight birdies as part of a final-round 63 at TPC Deere Run where he briefly challenged eventual winner Davis Thompson but gladly took a share of second at 24-under alongside veteran C.T. Pan and rising Florida State junior Luke Clanton.

“I knew I needed a big round,” Thorbjornsen said afterward. “Again, you can't really force a big round … It just comes to you. I set myself up the best way I probably could today … It just clicks, and things went my way today.”

The youth movement is at the forefront of professional golf. Thorbjornsen, 22, looks to become a central part of it. The Stanford alum finished No. 1 on this year’s PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn automatic TOUR membership – narrowly edging Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht for the top spot after the NCAA Championship – and the John Deere marked his third start as a TOUR member. It was an inauspicious start to his pro career (T39 at the Travelers Championship, missed cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic), but Thorbjornsen’s combination of talent and poise was apparent in the Quad Cities. The Massachusetts native held sixth place into the final round, but he surged Sunday with birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 followed by an electric run of six straight birdies at Nos. 8-13 – all coming from inside 12 feet. It was a ball-striking clinic, cutting Thompson’s six-shot advantage to three strokes and giving the eventual winner something to think about.

Thorbjornsen’s momentum slowed at the short par-4 14th; he missed the green well right, pitched to 36 feet and three-putted for a bogey that all but derailed his chances of joining last year’s PGA TOUR University No. 1 Ludvig Åberg as winners in their year of graduation. He’ll have plenty more chances, though, and he finished in style Sunday with a 15-foot birdie at the difficult par-4 18th to assume a share of second place.

This marks Thorbjornsen’s second top-five finish on TOUR in just 11 starts – he finished solo fourth at the 2022 Travelers Championship as an amateur, an early indication of what could be. He moves from No. 200 to No. 119 in the FedExCup standings, and although substantial legwork remains to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs (top 70 after the Wyndham Championship), he shouldn’t be counted out.

“Obviously feeling really good with where the game is at,” Thorbjornsen said, “and there are still things I can improve on.”