CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE

May 29, 2026

Michael Thorbjornsen

Colonial CC

Quick Quotes

Q. Michael, 65 today, you hit 10 of 18 greens yesterday, 16 of 18 today. So the ball striking seemed to be really on. If you can talk a little bit about the round.

MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Yeah, I feel like my irons yesterday were either decent or really bad. Then today they were either really good or acceptable. And I think that's kind of the big difference between the two rounds. Obviously didn't hit it as well as I did off the tee today as I did yesterday, but just kind of took advantage of the good tee shots that I hit and then just hit some really close ones.

Q. Take us through your mindset a little bit of 64, 73 last week at the Byron, just what was your mindset coming in?

MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Yeah, obviously that's a big slap in the face. I think I was in third place or fourth, whatever it was, going into Friday, and just very poor approach play. I think I was, I think I led the field last week in strokes gained off the tee and it's almost unheard of missing the cut and leading that stat. But I, we saw really, really good stuff on that Thursday and I think that's kind of all I'm focusing on. It was very clear to me why I played the way I did on Friday. You're going to have bad days, but I missed an absurd amount of putts on that Friday, especially like a 5-footer on 16 and a 5-footer on 17 to get myself one shot within that cut line. But I mean that's just golf. It's a new week and, yeah, I'm just trying to carry some of that good mojo from last week.

Q. Any changes or did you spend extra time on the putting the first few days this week?

MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Yeah, whole new putter. Needed something different. I feel like, I mean, it's a new grip, it's a new kind of hosel and it's a new face as well. So, I mean, the it's the putter that I basically used in college. I feel like I have more feel just being a smaller grip. I feel like that helps a lot just with pace and speed, especially on those 8-footers. I normally like to take pride in my ability to make those putts, just with the proper pace and being able to see the line really well. Kind of before I was kind of losing that a little bit. Now these past couple days I feel like I've made my fair share of those putts that kind of feel normal to me in a way.

Q. What putter did you go to?

MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: It's the Spider X. Just the smaller head. I was in the big spider. And, yeah, we're just in the stock Golf Pride grip right now. I think it's a double-bend shaft. I'm not really into all that stuff, I just like the way it looks and like the way it feels.

Q. I know this is the first time you played this tournament, but you played this course before. It's a great layout. What's your thoughts?

MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Yeah, I think it's great. I played 15 holes last year, I withdrew, that was my I think sixth week in a row, my body was in shambles. But this is now my first time fully playing the course out after the redo. We played it in college a couple times, loved it, played well here, thought it fit my game well. It's all right in front of you. Yeah, I've kind of been harping on this, that you need to hit good tee shots and good approach shots in order to have good looks. It's not like you can get away with a stray drive and kind of hack something out toward the pin. But, yeah, I like this style of golf where kind of every shot needs to be good and you're penalized whenever you hit a bad one.

Q. You're making your 60th start on the TOUR, right up there in contention. Talk a little bit about the fight to get that first PGA TOUR win and how excited you are to go into the weekend right near the top?

MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Yeah, obviously very excited. Whether I'm in contention or just scraping by to make a cut, it's always nice to play the weekend. Obviously I'm here to try my best to win, but that can't be the goal. You have to focus on just playing good golf and focusing on how your game can improve week in, week out, year after year, season after season. So I hope to be out here for a very long time and just hope to get better each and every day. And if I see that progress, then I'll be happy with kind of where my game is at and where I'm at in my career. But whether I win or lose this weekend it doesn't really bother me too much.