Michael Thorbjornsen plays with a 10-finger, baseball-style grip that almost no one else on the PGA Tour uses. It’s an odd detail for a player who just beat a field that included Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, and Tony Finau to win the final Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, claiming the biggest share of the $10 million purse and sparking plenty of curiosity along the way. Here are 10 quick facts about golf’s newest breakout star.

1. Two-year-long wait finally ends

Since turning professional, he has made roughly 65 official starts on the PGA Tour. Victory continued to elude him until he teed it up at Detroit Golf Club, where he finally captured his first PGA Tour title.

More interestingly, he became just the eighth player to win on the PGA Tour for the first time this season. He is also only the second consecutive first-time winner after 21-year-old Jackson Koivun stunned fans at TPC Twin Cities by defeating World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to win the 3M Open. Last season, there were 17 first-time PGA Tour winners, just one shy of the all-time record of 18 set in 2002.

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1. Rory McIlroy turns out to be a soothsayer

Rory McIlroy‘s words from last year have aged remarkably well after Michael Thorbjornsen’s breakthrough victory. The World No. 2 and six-time major champion admitted that staying at the top of the sport is becoming increasingly difficult, especially with young talents like Thorbjornsen making their mark on the PGA Tour. 

“You see all these younger kids that are coming up, the likes of a Michael Thorbjornsen or Luke Clanton or these guys that basically are ready to play at the top level coming out of college, and you have to make sure you’re staying on top of what makes you such a great player,” McIlroy said at the 2025 Scottish Open.

1. The man behind Thorbjornsen’s success

Thorbjornsen picked up a golf club young, and for most of his life he’s had just one coach: his father, Thorbjorn “Ted” Thorbjornsen. Ted has been his swing coach since the beginning, guiding him through the amateur ranks and into his pro career.

Just before the Rocket Classic, though, the 24-year-old made a change, bringing in renowned instructor Sean Foley. After the win, Thorbjornsen credited Foley with helping him get better control of the golf ball, and it clearly showed up in the results.

1. Michael Thorbjornsen has the most unusual grip

One of the more unusual facts about the newly crowned PGA Tour winner is that he uses the highly unusual 10-finger (baseball-style) grip. Almost no one else on the PGA Tour uses it, since nearly everyone prefers the interlock or overlap. Yet he’s used a version of it his entire life, starting as a kid with a pure baseball grip and no thumbs on the club. Thorbjornsen has stuck with it despite the conventional wisdom, and it clearly works for him.

1. He did what Tiger Woods did

Thorbjornsen attended Stanford, the same school as Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, and Rose Zhang, and made his mark there as a standout on the men’s golf team. His No. 1 finish in the 2024 PGA Tour University rankings granted him full PGA Tour membership covering the rest of the 2024 season and all of 2025, bypassing Q-School and the Korn Ferry Tour altogether.

1. Family roots

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 16, 2001, to parents Thorbjorn Thorbjornsen and Sandra Chiang. While his father hails from Norway, his mother is from Zimbabwe. Besides Michael Thorbjornsen, who started playing golf at the age of two, the couple has three daughters: Victoria, Michelle, and Teresa. 

1. An amateur standout

Thorbjornsen put together one of the most impressive amateur resumes of his generation. His resume took shape in 2018, when he won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Baltusrol, earning him a spot in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He made the cut there, becoming the first U.S. Junior Amateur champion to do so, and finished tied for 79th.

He also helped the United States win both the Junior Ryder Cup and the Junior Presidents Cup. His amateur career included seven titles in all, among them the 2023 Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championship, the 2021 Western Amateur, and the Massachusetts Amateur.

1. Thorbjornsen’s first tournament as pro

The rising star kicked off his professional career at the 2024 Travelers Championship. It was actually a return trip: two years earlier, he’d made headlines there as an amateur, finishing fourth but walking away without the $406,700 prize, since NCAA rules barred amateurs from taking prize money.

Turning pro meant he could finally compete for both trophies and earnings, and he kicked things off with a respectable tied-39th finish. He didn’t stay quiet for long. Just three starts in, he was runner-up at the John Deere Classic, putting the rest of the field on notice.

1. His first full season

Michael Thorbjornsen made his mark early in his first full PGA Tour season in 2025. Through June, he sat among the Tour’s top five in driving distance, putting his power on full display. He also picked up his best major finish, tying for 41st at the 2025 PGA Championship.

1. Thorbjornsen’s current rankings

As of the time of writing, the 24-year-old is ranked 38th on the FedEx Cup rankings with 1,036 points. This clears him to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs this year. Meanwhile, he is ranked 40th on the Official World Golf Rankings with 139.57 points. 

Having said that, there’s clearly plenty to learn about Michael Thorbjornsen. Hopefully, this list of facts will continue to grow, as the 24-year-old advances in what appears to be a bright career.