A week after battling a painful illness, Michael Thorbjornsen is back to normal at American Express.
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Michael Thorbjornsen started the PGA Tour season a week later than expected due to a painful illness.
The 23-year-old Stanford player, who won a PGA Tour title by topping the 2024 PGA Tour college rankings, originally competed in last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii. However, Thorbjornsen withdrew at the last minute.
“Yes, I had tonsillitis last week,” Thorbjornsen told reporters Thursday after shooting 7-under par in the first round of the American Express. “The day I arrived, what hit me was that I was stuck in bed for three days in a row. It was really bad. Yeah, I’m obviously over it now, I did some good reps, I came here on Saturday, I think, so I had an extra day of practice and things kind of went back to normal.
“I think Tuesday was the worst day,” Thorbjornsen said. “Those three days seem like one day, but we thought, OK, if I sleep really well, if I feel good enough, even if it doesn’t get completely cured, if I can scrape up maybe one…, two under, the next I’ll feel even better the next day and I’ll organize a match later. Unfortunately I didn’t sleep very well, I woke up in the morning and didn’t feel any better, so we kind of decided to back out.
Thorbjornsen withdrew from the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club at 5:50 a.m. local time on Thursday, before the tournament started. Canadian Nick Taylor won this event defeating Nico Echavarria in overtime.
The good news for Thorbjorsen is that the antibiotics “helped” and he didn’t need to have his tonsils removed.
The Stanford product followed up his first-round 65 at La Quinta Country Club with a 4-under-par 68 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course.
Thorbjornsen is still looking for his first career PGA Tour victory. He has three top-10 finishes in his career, including a runner-up finish in last year’s John Deere Classic.
A breakthrough appears to be on the horizon for Thorbjornsen. His body and swing are in good shape and his tonsils are working together.
“My tonsils don’t touch each other anymore, which is good,” Thorbjornsen said. “Yes, everything is fine, I have no complaints.”
