Stanford standout Michael Thorbjornsen reflects on a windy third round, his physical and mental progress since college, and how life on the PGA TOUR finally feels “normal.” He talks about adjusting to pro golf, why Rocket Mortgage was the turning point, and what it means to be back near home chasing his first PGA TOUR win.
Thorbjornsen also discusses his relationship with Patrick Rodgers, what they bond over from their Stanford days, and how it feels to battle for a title with someone at a different stage of life but sharing the same dream.
A candid, composed, and insightful press conference from one of golf’s brightest young talents.
Mike, a little bit different conditions today than the first couple days. How did you kind of find those conditions and how did you feel like you played today? Um, yeah, it’s definitely tougher out there. More wind. Um, that’s really the defense on this course. It’s pretty exposed. Um, feel like I played fine. Just kind of missed a few putts out there. Um, yeah, just try to hit fairways, hit greens, and then just try and make a putt. talk about, you know, physically it’s been kind of a journey for you since since college. How do you feel now? Is this the best that that you felt in some time? Yeah. Um every I feel healthy mentally, physically. Um being out here feels more normal. Um it’s kind of like takes some time to get used to kind of college golf and amateur golf. Um, yeah. So, I Yeah, it just feels pretty normal out here now. What was the tournament where you went from feeling like all right, I’m Michael Thorbjornson’s recent Stanford grad, PJ tour you number one to, you know, PJ tour player, fully exempt like um probably at the start of the summer kind of when I’ve played all of these events. um kind of the first five months or so I hadn’t played any of them as amateurs uh or as an amateur um doing all that travel too. You don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into until you actually do it yourself. Uh but yeah, maybe I want to say like rocket or something is kind of like all right, I know the schedule. I know these courses. I know the airports I’m going to. I know the hotels I’m staying at. There’s a lot less thinking in between golf rounds. Um yeah, and coming back here almost feels like a home tournament in a way. I’m just a drive away. Uh played well here last year like the course. Do you feel comfortable in in this situation being in the final group on on a Sunday? Do do you feel like you’re comfortable in that? Yeah, that’s what I would sign up for at the start of the week. Um if you’re not comfortable, then that means you’re nervous. And if you’re nervous, that means you care. So whether I am comfortable, uncomfortable, it’s a good position to be in and whatever I’m feeling is kind of fine to feel. It just you don’t really you’re not really thinking about how you feel when you’re out there playing. You’re just thinking about kind of the shot that’s in front of you. How how close are you with Patrick? I mean, was it something where you knew him when you were still in school or even before that or was he kind of just a a name you chased on the wall in college? Uh a little bit of both. Um, I don’t think we met my freshman year. Uh, I mean, coach and all the other coaches and you know what he did in college and it was pretty unbelievable. Um, I think I met him my sophomore year or junior year and kind of from then at different tournaments that I would play um, as an amitter out here. He’d always be very nice, sit with me at lunch. Um, he’d reach out, ask if I’d want to play a practice round. He’s been very great. Um, yeah, it was the first time playing with him out here in a competitive round and it was very pleasant. We talked about some school, talked about some coach uh or coach Conrad and uh yeah, excited to do it again tomorrow. Is it is it weird that you guys are in like completely different uh spots in life but kind of chasing the same thing tomorrow? first PJ Tour win or Yeah, I mean I I think I heard him say it earlier, but everyone’s kind of on their their their own journey. Uh he’s played some great golf. He’s knocked on the door many many times. Uh played really well earlier on this year at a couple signature events. Um he played great today. Uh I mean who whether he wins or I win it doesn’t really matter that we have more tournaments to play next year. We you know who won last year here, right? I do. Yeah. So, I I’ I’d say let’s try and keep it uh as a Cardinal uh for a winner tomorrow. What do you guys bond over? Uh coach, golf. I mean, there’s there’s a lot of different things. He I mean, we basically lived the same lifestyle for four or five years in a way. Um so, I mean, we share our experiences together. He lives in South Florida, but he’s I think he’s out in Palo Alto right now. Um, yeah, we we talk about different food spots, talk about different stories that or that we’ve experienced through coach. And yeah, it’s just it’s nice to have someone that kind of went through the same thing as myself, just a little older. Perfect. Awesome. My call.
