HOUSTON — Michael Thorbjornsen enters Sunday at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in a familiar position of intense pressure.

He sits six shots back of leader Gary Woodland in a distant T3, but ever-present to those paying attention is his position in the Official World Golf Ranking. The math isn’t exact, but a T5 finish or better would likely vault Thorbjornsen from No. 56 into the top 50, earning his first career start in the Masters Tournament just two weeks from now.

This is the final week for players looking to qualify for the Masters via the OWGR, with the cutoff locking in invites for the top 50 in the world following the finish at Memorial Park. The only other way to secure a last-minute trip down Magnolia Lane is to win, either this week or next at the Valero Texas Open.

Thorbjornsen knows what’s at stake.

“You know what you’re playing for when you tee it up,” he said after his bogey-free round of 66 on Saturday. “Out there, it’s not like I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I need to hit this one close or make this putt in order to get more points.' No, you’re not thinking about rankings or anything other than just a shot that you have in front of you while you’re out there.”

It would serve the 24-year-old well to keep that mindset. Twice already this season, he has stood on the edge of a breakthrough, and twice, he has watched it slip away.

At the WM Phoenix Open, he played in the penultimate group and surged into the solo lead with three holes to play Sunday after an eagle at the par-5 15th. He followed with bogeys on both the 16th and 17th holes, missing a playoff by one stroke.

A month later at THE PLAYERS Championship, he again found himself in contention, paired alongside Ludvig Åberg in a glimpse of the TOUR’s rising future. His bid for a signature victory unraveled almost immediately, a quadruple-bogey 8 at the fourth hole set the tone for a jarring 77. He tumbled to a T22 finish.

“Honestly, it’s happened a few times now where I’ve been in that final group or have kind of been in the mix going into Sunday,” he said. “I feel like every round is different, whether you’re in the lead or tied for the lead or chasing someone. You can’t treat it like it’s a special day or anything like that, you just have to treat it like any other round, whether it’s a Thursday round, a Friday round, or whatnot. Just go and hit your shots and do the best that you can.”

Thorbjornsen made the bold decision to skip last week’s Valspar Championship, foregoing a chance at additional points in his pursuit of a Masters invite. The gamble could still pay off. His game has been well-suited for Memorial Park, where he has carded just one bogey through 54 holes and ranks fifth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 11th in SG: Approach.

Elsewhere, a handful of players arrived in Houston with similar ambitions.

Nicolai Højgaard has done what he needed to do to maintain his position inside the top 50, entering the week at No. 47 in the world and sitting one shot off Woodland’s lead into Sunday. Rickie Fowler, who needed a T7 finish or better to climb from No. 61 into the top 50, missed the cut after a second-round 73. Sahith Theegala remains a long-shot possibility. Currently T7 and ranked No. 80 in the world, he would likely need a solo second or better to have any chance at Augusta.

The most uncertain position belongs to Pierceson Coody, the week’s bubble player at No. 51, who withdrew due to injury prior to Friday’s round. His fate now rests on how the numbers fall late Sunday.

And hovering over it all is the same question Thorbjornsen has faced before: opportunity, and how to handle it when it’s finally his to take.

What would it mean for him to play in his first Masters?

“Not going to get too far ahead of myself … I’ll tell you tomorrow.”