Thorbjornsen right at home
Wellesley star on par with the best
Christmas came four months early for Wellesley boys golf coach Ken Bateman. He arrived at the first day of tryouts and one of the golfers looking to play on the team was Michael Thorbjornsen, the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion. Bateman heard the whispers that Thorbjornsen was planning to transfer home after spending the past three years at the IMG Academy in Florida, but wasn’t counting on anything.
“The first day of tryouts was the first time I saw him,” Bateman said. “Prior to that, I heard rumors, but I wasn’t sure until that first day.”
It didn’t take Bateman long to see what the hype was all about.
“He has the best swing of anyone I’ve seen come through Wellesley High School,” Bateman said. “The way the club impacts the ball, it’s much better than most golfers I’ve seen.”
For Thorbjornsen, there were several reasons why he decided to pass up his final year at IMG to return home.
“I just wanted to have a normal high school year to spend time with my friends,” he said. “Some of my best friends are on the golf team and I get to play different courses in Massachusetts with them. I’ve never been part of a golf team before so this is pretty cool.”
Thorbjornsen arrived with a resume seldom, if ever, seen among MIAA golfers. Start with the fact he won the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur title at Baltusrol, defeating Akshay Bhatia 1-up.
“It was at the start of the summer, I was looking forward to playing different tournaments,” Thorbjornsen said. “But that tournament was a main focus for me. Winning there opened up a lot of different things for me.”
One of those perks was an exemption to play in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Paired up with tour veterans David Toms and Chez Reavie, who finished third, Thorbjornsen put together early rounds of 71 and 73 to make the cut.
“It was cool playing with David and Chez,” said Thorbjornsen, who finished 79th. “They were extremely nice, they made me feel right at home, made sure I was comfortable. Knowing that I was playing in the same tournament as the best golfers in the world was pretty cool.”
Thorbjornsen will spend his senior year at Wellesley before heading west to Stanford in the fall.
“When it comes to academics and sports, you can’t get much better than Stanford,” Thorbjornsen said. “They won the NCAA championship last year and their coach (Conrad Ray) is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. The school has a great history and Tiger Woods went there.”
Which begs the question: Has he met Tiger?
“I actually met him once briefly,” Thorbjornsen said. “But I don’t think he would have remembered it.”
Michael Thorbjornsen is on the fast track to make sure everyone will know his name in the not-too-distant future.
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