Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Mass., gave Stanford a sweep of the 2022 AmateurGolf.com Player of the Year Awards.
The 21-year-old Thorbjornsen collected 2,300 points during the year and claimed a narrow victory over Ludvig Aberg of Sweden and Texas Tech, who captured the award last year and finished 2022 with 2,100 points.
Aberg was trying to become the first back-to-back winner of the award since Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State in 2009 and 2010.
Rose Zhang of Irvine and Stanford won the Women’s 2022 AGC Player of the Year Award.
Thorbjornsen, a junior at Stanford, captured the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields by one stroke this year and led the Cardinal to a 12-stroke victory, and that was among his nine finishes in the top 10 in 2022 after winning the Western Amateur and the Massachusetts Amateur in 2021.
Then Thorbjornsen earned a spot in qualifying for the 122nd U.S. Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., near his home and even though he missed the cut at 77-69—146, it was an exhilarating experience after being the first player off the tee in round one.
A week later, Thorbjornsen was granted a sponsor’s exemption into the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., and reeled off rounds of 68-65-66-66 for a total of 15-under par 265 to finished in solo fourth, four strokes behind winner Xander Schauffele.
That was the highest finish on the PGA Tour as an amateur since 2016.
“It was incredible; it was surreal,” Thorbjornsen said afterward. “It’s better than how I dreamt about it. It’s so loud. It was very welcoming. I can’t wait to come back next year and the following years.”
William Mouw of Chino and Pepperdine finished sixth in the AGC Player of the Year standings with 6,000 points, and his Waves teammate, Dylan Menante of Carlsbad, wound up eighth with 5,850 points.
Previous winners of the Men’s AGC Player of the Year Award include Uihlein, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland of Norway, Danny Lee, Corey Conners and Curtis Luck.
