DETROIT — Michael Thorbjornsen pumped his right fist Sunday after making a 26-foot putt for a birdie on his last hole to shoot a 7-under-par 63, reach 18 under at Detroit Golf Club and earn his first PGA Tour victory, doing so by two shots at the final Rocket Classic.
“Perfect pace, perfect read,” Thorbjornsen said of his final stroke on the North Course.
The 24-year-old American sealed his spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs after rolling into the Motor City at No. 69 in the points standings. The top 70 advance to the postseason after next weekend’s Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“Just to be in the playoff for the first time is very exciting, he said. “It’s great to be playing against the best players in the world.”
Thorbjornsen started the fourth round three shots behind leader Davis Riley, whose rough start opened opportunities for the field.
“The start got the best of me and kind of put me behind the eight-ball early unfortunately,” said Riley, who was seeking a third career win on the tour but his first since the Charles Schwab Challenge in May 2024.
Thorbjornsen took advantage, surging into the lead at No. 14 with his third of four birdies in a six-hole stretch and closing with a clutch, curling putt that went in the right side of the cup.
He’s the eighth first-time winner this season on the PGA Tour and the second straight, following Jackson Koivun’s victory last week at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota.
“It was such a battle, playing with some great players,” Thorbjornsen said. “Everyone was in the mix after nine holes.”
Two-time major champion Xander Schauffele (65) briefly led during the final round and finished second.
“I played really well and he just beat me straight up, so hats off to him,” said Schauffele, who at No. 15 was the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking at the tournament.
Riley (70) was another stroke behind in third, falling out of the lead with four bogeys.
Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard (68) was alone in fourth at 14 under, while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (64), England’s Matt Wallace (67) and Norway’s Kristoffer Ventura (68) were another stroke back.
Thorbjornsen was born in Cleveland, grew up in Massachusetts and attended Stanford University in California. He won the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur over Akshay Bhatia, who has three PGA Tour wins.
He went straight to the PGA Tour in 2024 as the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking.
“I think it’s one of the best programs in golf,” Thorbjornsen said. “It’s changed all of our lives.”
Thorbjornsen chipped in from 35 feet for a birdie at No. 12 on a day when he accurately aimed for pins that left him with some short birdie putts before his long one on his 72nd hole.
He had a bogey-free round, an accomplishment many other players on the leaderboard were unable to pull off on a day that started with rain and became windy when the clouds cleared.
Riley started with a one-shot lead and quickly lost it — and couldn’t find his ball in fescue at No. 4 after about a dozen people helped him try — with three bogeys through six holes.
He rallied with three birdies in a seven-hole stretch before giving back a stroke with a bogey at No. 17, taking away his chance to possibly force the tournament into a playoff.
The eighth and final Rocket Classic drew its strongest field and biggest crowds.
The PGA Tour is moving to a new model for 2028, effectively creating two tours, and Rocket Mortgage decided not to exercise its option to host another tournament next year. The Detroit-based company isn’t interested in continuing to spend $15 million a year to be part of the second tier in the new era and didn’t want to double the costs to be part of the elite tier.
“There have been some conversations about having a tournament here again,” tournament director Mark Hollis said. “Michigan deserves to have professional golf.”
Kuwaki takes playoff at Women’s British Open
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Shiho Kuwaki saved par to stay alive in a sudden-death playoff, then won with a par on the second extra hole to take the Women’s British Open over Esther Henseleit.
It’s the first major championship for the 23-year-old Japanese player.
Kuwaki closed with a 1-under 70 and looked like a winner as she waited nearly 30 minutes in the scoring room. Henseleit, in the final group, holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Royal Lytham & St. Annes for a 70. The 27-year-old from Germany joined Kuwaki at 5-under 279 through 72 holes of regulation play.
Henseleit then had the advantage in the playoff when Kuwaki was in deep grass short of a bunker and had to lay up short of the green. Kuwaki hit a wedge shot that left the ball three feet from the cup to save par, then got another chance when Henseleit missed a 15-foot birdie putt for the win.
The tables turned on the second extra hole. Henseleit’s tee shot on the 18th drifted far enough to the right that it was beneath a gorse bush. She did well to get that back to the fairway, then hit wedge to about 12 feet. Her par putt stayed left of the cup, though, and that left Kuwaki to tap in for par.
“Very happy with how I gave myself the opportunity to win today and how I handled myself. Just got a bit unlucky on the second playoff hole there,” Henseleit said. “I tried really hard, and I guess it just wasn’t meant to be today.”
Kuwaki is the second straight Women’s British Open champ from Japan, following Miyu Yamashita, who won last year at Royal Porthcawl. Kuwaki, often known for her fashion, is the fifth player from Japan to have won an LPGA major over the past three years.
“I can’t believe it,” Kuwaki said through a translator at the trophy presentation.
The disappointment belonged to third-place Yealimi Noh (74), the 25-year-old Californian who began the final round with a three-shot lead until it slowly went away with bogeys.
She fell out of a share of the lead with a bogey on the 14th hole. Noh was one shot behind and had two reasonable looks at birdie — with Kuwaki already in the clubhouse at 279 — but failed to convert.
“It stings being one short,” said Noh, who had missed three straight cuts before this tournament. “I told myself this morning, no matter what happens I’m happy to be in this position again. A couple of weeks ago, I was losing a lot of motivation. This week has helped me feel so much better about my game.”
Haeran Ryu fell short in her bid to become the first player since fellow South Korean golfer Inbee Park in 2013 to win three straight majors in one year. The Women’s PGA Championship and Evian Championship winner was still in the mix on the back nine. Ryu needed birdies and instead closed with two straight bogeys for a 74 to tie for sixth.
American star Nelly Korda, the top-ranked player in women’s golf and the winner of the year’s first two majors, started eight shots behind and closed with a 68. She was the leader in the clubhouse for the longest time at 2 under until Kuwaki finished.
Korda tied for fourth with second-ranked Jeeno Thitikul (73) of Thailand.
Kuwaki, who entered the tournament at No. 46 in the rankings, played bogey-free golf over the last 13 holes as everyone around her made mistakes. She was in the scoring room after signing and stayed there, even as Henseleit and Noh had birdie chances on the final two holes to force a playoff.
Henseleit delivered with a most unlikely putt, 40 feet across the 18th green. She raised her right arm as the golf ball still had a few feet to go and punched the air when it dropped for birdie.
It was only the second playoff since the Women’s British Open became a major in 2001.
Kuwaki covered her eyes when she watched the putt go in on TV, then broke into a smile. And moments later, she was in a cart and off to the 18th tee for a playoff and immediately in trouble. Her tee shot stayed short of a bunker but in the slope of thick grass. She smartly tried to get it back in play, and her wedge to three feet was as important a shot as any.
It gave her another chance, and the final mistake belonged to Henseleit with the tee shot on the 18th for the second playoff hole.
Kuwaki already has won twice this year and is fourth on the money list on the Japan LPGA tour, which has produced five recent major champions, including Yamashita, Mao Saigo, Yuka Saso and Ayaka Furue.
And now Kuwaki.
“Just to be on a stage like this is just an honor,” she said, “and every hole I was just focused shot by shot and just tried to enjoy it out there as much as I could.”
Johnson smooth on Sunday
VILAMOURA, Portugal —Zach Johnson opened his final round with three straight birdies on the way to a closing 7-under 65 for a two-shot victory over Stewart Cink in the inaugural Portugal Invitational.
Johnson won for the fourth time in his rookie season on the 50-and-older circuit, and it was his third PGA Tour Champions victory in his past four starts. He finished the 54-hole tournament at the Els Club Vilamoura at 19-under 197.
A 12-time winner on the PGA Tour, including major titles at the 2007 Masters and the 2015 British Open, Johnson is a former U.S. team captain for the Ryder Cup.
Cink, who closed with a 68, remains atop the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings. Johnson and Cink have combined to win eight of the 18 tournaments this year on the senior tour.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington closed with a 70 and finished third in his eighth consecutive week playing on either the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions or Europe-based DP World Tour.