The PGA Tour has had two first-time winners in two weeks. Jackson Koivun won the 3M Open, and on Sunday Michael Thorbjornsen won the last Rocket Classic in Detroit. Both were stars as amateurs, and they took very different routes to the same place.
| Koivun | Thorbjornsen | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 21 | 24 |
| College | Auburn | Stanford |
| Starts before first win | 2 as a pro | 64 |
| Final round | 66, bogey-free | 63, bogey-free |
| Winning score | 25 under, 259 (record) | 18 under, 262 |
| Margin | 3 | 2 |
| FedEx Cup before | 194th | 69th |
Koivun's position before the 3M Open is worked out from his 70th place after it and the 124 places he climbed.
Thorbjornsen, finally
Thorbjornsen won the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur, beating Akshay Bhatia, and came to the Tour in 2024 as the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking. Then he waited. On Sunday he shot 63 without a bogey, chipped in from 35 feet at the 12th and finished with a 26-foot birdie putt to beat Xander Schauffele by two.
- 8 First-time winners on the PGA Tour this season. Thorbjornsen is the eighth
- 2 In a row, after Koivun
- 70 The playoff line. Both are now inside it with one regular-season event left
The last event before the playoffs is the Wyndham Championship this week. For everyone else on the bubble, two fewer places to aim at.
Sources: AP via PGA Tour (2 August); AP (26 July); Pro Golf Weekly (August).