After completing his four-year career at Stanford on Sunday at the NCAA Championship, Michael Thorbjornsen officially secured his PGA TOUR card as the No. 1 player in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2024. Thorbjornsen may accept PGA TOUR membership upon turning professional, and he will be eligible for all open, full-field PGA TOUR events for the remainder of the 2024 season and the 2025 season.
Though Stanford missed Sunday’s 54-hole cut at the NCAA Championship, Thorbjornsen’s PGA TOUR University record stood above his peers’. Over the last two years, the 22-year-old posted three victories and made the cut in four professional events, highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Travelers Championship near his hometown of Wellesley, Massachusetts.
“PGA TOUR U is, I think, one of the best programs in all of sports,” said Thorbjornsen. “What they’ve done, creating a pathway to the PGA TOUR and to these different tours underneath it, it’s huge. It gives students and us golfers reasons to stay for four years, and you can’t really pass up on the opportunities that they present to you.”
Thorbjornsen began the 2023-24 season on the sideline, as he missed the entire fall campaign with a stress fracture in his back. When he returned to the Cardinal lineup in February, he finished T71 and T17, respectively, in his first two starts, relinquishing the No. 1 spot to Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht. Thorbjornsen returned to the top of PGA TOUR University after winning the Cabo Collegiate, and the victory started a sprint to the finish that included five consecutive top-10s entering this week’s national championship.
Thorbjornsen also missed the 54-hole cut in the individual competition this week after rounds of 74-75-78 on the North Course at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, but he was assured of finishing No. 1 in PGA TOUR University after Lamprecht was subbed out of Georgia Tech’s lineup after the first round due to a back injury.
“Christo has been a huge part in my success this spring pushing me, even though we’re not together and I rarely see him,” said Thorbjornsen. “Finishing in that No. 1 spot is massive, so just doing everything you can every single day, making sure you’re getting one percent better every single day, is huge.”
The Rocket Mortgage Classic (June 27-30) is the first full-field event for which he is eligible, and he plans to compete in U.S. Open Final Qualifying on June 3 at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey. Additionally, as a PGA TOUR member, Thorbjornsen will be eligible to receive sponsor exemptions into Signature Events such as the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (June 6-9) and Travelers Championship (June 20-23).
Thorbjornsen joins Texas Tech’s Ludvig Åberg (2023), Texas’ Pierceson Coody (2022) and Florida State’s John Pak (2021) as the No. 1 players in PGA TOUR University. Last year, Åberg became the first player to earn PGA TOUR membership as PGA TOUR University’s No. 1 player, and in his first year as a professional, the Swede won the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters, competed for the European Ryder Cup Team and won the PGA TOUR’s RSM Classic.
“Ludvig, even though he’s been on TOUR for say a year now, he’s top 10 in the world, he’s done unbelievable things recently,” said Thorbjornsen. “We’re good friends, we competed a lot last year, so he’s someone I look up to but I’m also trying to beat him as well.”
The rest of the PGA TOUR University Class of 2024 will be finalized upon the conclusion of Monday’s final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship. Players finishing 2nd-5th (exempt) and 6th-10th (conditional) will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership, while players 11th-25th will be exempt on PGA TOUR Americas for the remainder of the 2024 season.
GOLF Channel will have live coverage of Monday’s final round (6-10 p.m. ET), as well as match play on Tuesday and Wednesday.
About PGA TOUR University
Introduced in 2020, PGA TOUR University identifies the best players in collegiate golf and provides membership opportunities on PGA TOUR-affiliated tours. PGA TOUR University alumni have won 19 professional events, and 11 alumni earned their PGA TOUR cards for the 2024 season.
In partnership with the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®), the PGA TOUR University Ranking ranks collegiate players based on their average performance in NCAA Division-I men’s team competitions, official PGA TOUR tournaments, and select DP World Tour events over the last two years of their collegiate careers.
Upon the conclusion of the collegiate golf season, the No. 1 player in the final PGA TOUR University Ranking earns PGA TOUR membership. Players Nos. 1-5 (fully exempt) and Nos. 6-10 (conditional) earn Korn Ferry Tour membership, and players finishing 11th through 25th earn exempt membership on PGA TOUR Americas. Additionally, a junior or senior who wins the Division-II Jack Nicklaus Award (National Player of the Year) will earn exempt membership on PGA TOUR Americas upon the conclusion of his collegiate career.
