24-year-old Michael Thorbjornsen put on a clinic in Sunday’s final round of the Rocket Classic in Detroit with the American posting a seven-under-par 63 to climb six places and win by two strokes at 18-under.
Thorbjornsen was bogey free around Detroit Golf Club but it was his back nine performance that sealed a first PGA TOUR win for the youngster. Two-under on the front, Thorbjornsen would make five birdies on the back with his best coming at the last where he drained a 26-foot putt.
This win jumps Thorbjornsen into the top-70 of the FedEx Cup standings. The top 70 advance to the postseason after next week’s Wyndham Championship.
“Just to be in the playoff for the first time is very exciting, he said. ”It’s great to be playing against the best players in the world.”
“It was such a battle, playing with some great players,” Thorbjornsen added. “Everyone was in the mix after nine holes.”
Thorbjornsen is the eighth first-time winner this season on the PGA TOUR and the second straight, following Jackson Koivun’s victory last week at the 3M Open.
Xander Schauffele earned his best finish of the year as his 16-under score was enough to hold second place. After a somewhat lackluster season, Schauffele is trying to get back to basics and tap into his rookie season mentality.
“I wanted to come here and get a few feels, I guess, in play and kind of just freewheel it with sort of a nothing-to-lose mentality. I felt like I spoke about that when I was a rookie on TOUR,” Schauffele said Sunday. “I’m trying to be free and if I hit loose shots, I hit loose shots, but feel free when I’m swinging – and I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
Still, Schauffele, whose previous best result of 2026 came at THE PLAYERS Championship where he finished solo third, was chuffed with his debut performance at Detroit Golf Club.
“I feel good. You know, I fell short, but I played well,” Schauffele said. “(Thorbjornsen) just played … he played incredible. If you look at his stretch for the last 12 holes, he played incredible golf.
With the FedExCup Playoffs around the corner, it’s as perfect a time as any for Schauffele to be playing good golf again.
54-hole leader Davis Riley dropped to third place after an even-par final round seen him finish at 15-under. Riley started with a one-shot lead and quickly lost it – and couldn’t find his ball in fescue at the fourth after about a dozen people helped him try.
Riley rallied with three birdies in a seven hole stretch but the early bogeys were too costly and another at the 17th nulled any chance of a playoff.
Rasmus Højgaard finished fourth at 14-under. Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Wallace, and Kristoffer Ventura finished in a tie for fifth at 13-under.
Leave a comment