ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Over the past three years, The RSM Classic has produced three first-time PGA TOUR winners: Maverick McNealy (2024), Ludvig Åberg ('23) and Adam Svensson ('22). This year, if Michael Thorbjornsen has anything to say about it, that streak could continue.

In the ultimate week of the FedExCup Fall, where the field is battling for a spot in the top 100 of the standings to guarantee themselves full PGA TOUR status, Thorbjornsen, No. 72, has his eyes set on something else. Through 36 holes, the Stanford alum is bogey-free and holds a share of second place with Patrick Rodgers at 15-under par, one stroke off Andrew Novak's lead.

"Yeah, I like it when good shots are rewarded and good shots are definitely rewarded out here and you can take it really low," Thorbjornsen said after his round.

The former world No. 1 amateur and 2024 PGA TOUR University No. 1 opened with a first-round, 8-under 64 on the Plantation Course. On a Friday where conditions were perfect enough to push the cutline to 7-under, he made birdie putts from 5, 7 and 14 feet on No. 11, 13 and 15 (on his first nine of the day). Making the turn, he struck his approach on the par-4 first hole to 5 feet to set up another birdie, then chipped in from 50 feet on the par-3 third hole. He drained putts from 12 and 26 feet on his closing four holes for two more birdies to sign for a 7-under 63 on the Seaside Course.

"Yeah, I feel good now," he said. "The past few months have been pretty good ball-striking-wise, so we've been working really hard on the swing mechanics and whatnot and we're just continuing to do that."

This is Thorbjornsen's first full year on TOUR. His 2024 season proved promising but unreliable, with three top-10s and six of 11 cuts made. He missed six cuts in his first nine starts of 2025, but back-to-back T2-T4 finishes in the Dominican Republic and Zurich Classic of New Orleans signalled a turning point in his season. He added two more top-10s over the rest of the season to comfortably slide into the FedExCup top 100.

"Right after college going into TOUR life, you can never prepare for it because you don't know what you're getting yourself into until you actually experience it for yourself," Thorbjornsen said. "I try and remind myself kind of to when I first got to college, it's very similar from junior golf to college golf, like you're playing with better players, harder courses.... just forces you to kind of up your game to another level."

Thorbjornsen is currently projected to No. 54 in the FedExCup standings, which would bump him into the Aon Next 10. If he keeps up his solid play, he could punch his ticket to his first two Signature Events of the 2026 season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational — and carve his name onto The RSM Classic trophy as the newest first-timer.