Michael Thorbjornsen calls it a “tale of two nines” — a brilliant start, then a back nine where he completely lost the driver.
Even so, he stays in the hunt at the RSM Classic and explains:
🎯 Why his ball-striking is the best it’s been in months
💥 How getting mono out of his system changed his season
⚙️ The swing work that rebuilt his confidence
🧠 How he manages low-scoring shootouts like this week
🛫 The exhausting transition from college to TOUR life
🔧 Why he’s heading straight to the range after the round
A raw, honest look from one of the TOUR’s rising stars.
#Golf #PGATour #Thorbjornsen #RSMClassic #GolfHighlights
You good, Tristan? Michael, how would you kind of characterize the day today? Uh, tail of two nines, I’d say. Uh, front nine or which was my or the back nine of the seaside. Feel like I hit the ball really well off the tea into the greens all around. Just very good, very solid. Kind of more of what we saw yesterday. And then I’m not really sure what it was, but just couldn’t really find the fairway um on the back nine. Um thankfully there weren’t too many drivers. Uh but when I did hit driver, it wasn’t quite like it was earlier on in the round. Uh I’m not sure if my energy levels were down or not, but just something wasn’t feeling right. So I guess that’s a good thing. if I’m not feeling good and it’s not going well and just try and find a way to make yourself feel better out there. Do you feel comfortable in these type of kind of almost like shootout like like we had this weekend where you got to make a ton of birdies. You kind of can’t, you know, take your foot off the gas. Uh I I do. It depends on the style of course. Feel like out here you can shoot low scores if you hit fairways and hit it decently far. Um so I’m comfortable with that. But if we’re playing I don’t want to can I like shout out names or like what was it uh in Mexico or Cabo a couple weeks ago. The fairways are so wide it doesn’t really matter how you hit it off the tea. Um but yeah I like like it when good shots are rewarded and good shots are definitely rewarded out here and you can take it really low. What do you what do you kind of equate to you finding a little more consistency out here on the PJ tour last maybe like four or five months? Do you feel a little more comfortable with being out here? Is there is there one thing you kind of pinpoint to why you’ve been a little more consistent? Uh just my swing. Honestly, I didn’t I mean the mono’s out of my system as well. Um yeah, my swing is in a much better spot. So, I mean, being able to trust driver off the tee and being able to trust hitting to a tuck pin, whatever it may be. Um before I just wasn’t really in the the proper spot. My game wasn’t in a good spot. Um Yeah, I know. I I feel good now. I mean, the past few months have been pretty good ball striking wise, so we’ve been working really hard on the swing and mechanics and and whatnot. So, and we just continue to do that. Is there one thing that you focus on this weekend more than anything else to hopefully possibly raise that trophy on Sunday? No, not really. I mean, it’s the last tournament. I’m just trying to finish strong and have some good momentum going into next year. excited for a break. Um, yeah, just trying to hit the ball as few many times as I possibly can. One one last question for me is does it feel like it’s kind of like a whirlwind the last maybe what 18 18 months and you said you kind of like tired. You need a little bit of break. Do you feel like you’ve really it’s just kind of been go go go and then maybe it might be nice to have months? Definitely. Um, I mean, right after college, going into tour life, uh, you can never prepare for it because you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into until you actually experience it for yourself. Um, all the travel, taking care of your body, and all this other stuff, playing different golf courses, playing against the best players in the world. Uh, there’s a lot to take in and definitely takes some time to kind of adjust and get acclimated and comfortable with the environment that you’re in. Um, I try and remind myself kind of to when I first got to college. It’s very similar from junior golf to college golf. Like you’re playing with better players, harder courses. So, kind of just forces you to kind of up your game to another level. And then just kind of similar to what Andrew is saying, this past year battle a little bit of injury, but how are you feeling entering this competition this week? Feeling good. Yeah, everything feels good. Energy energy levels are high. Um, I mean, it’s the end of the season, but I mean, two more rounds, you’re obviously trying your best to finish strong. Um, swing’s in a good spot, but again, my completely lost my driver on the back line there, so I’m going to go to the range right now and try and sort that out. Perfect. Thank you guys. Thank you. Have a good evening.
