Cabo Collegiate: Arizona State wins in commanding fashion

March 5, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Arizona State Men's Golf team (Arizona State Athletics Photo)

Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford returns to the winners circle after an injury forced him to miss six months of competitive golf

Arizona State bounced back from a disappointing finish last week, while Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford cemented his return to collegiate golf at the 2024 Cabo Collegiate at Twin Dolphin Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The Sun Devils shot 19-under to win the team competition by nine shots over Texas Tech, who finished in solo second place at 10-under. The Sun Devils shot a final-round 11-under 273 to clinch the championship.

Last week, the Sun Devils finished 14th out of 18 teams at the Southern Highland Collegiate. They pushed that memory out of their heads and kept their foot on the gas this week to win convincingly.

For the most part, the spring season has been a good one for the Sun Devils, as they finished second at the National Invitational and second at the Amer Ari Invitational.

Arkansas finished in solo third place at 2-under, and Vanderbilt finished in solo fourth place at 1-over. Vanderbilt won the Watersound Invitational recently and was the two-time defending champion at this tournament.

Ole Miss and Florida State finished T5 at 5-over to round out the top five.

Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford won the individual competition at 10-under, one shot better than Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss.

Thorbjornsen shot rounds of 69-65-69 to win the tournament. He entered the final hole one shot better than La Sasso at 9-under, and a birdie from La Sasso forced Thorbjornsen to answer with his own to win the tournament outright. He answered the call, birding the final hole, the par-4 No. 18, to get to 10-under and win.

The Stanford standout had an impressive second round, shooting 6-under 65. He started his round on hole No. 5 and made a bogey, but he made seven birdies on the remaining 17 holes to shoot the 6-under 66. He made three birdies in a row on holes No. 16, 17, and 18.

Michael Thorbjornsen missed the entire fall because of a stress fracture in his back. He then finished T-71 in his spring debut, and later lost his No. 1 spot in PGA Tour U.

Well, he just won the @CaboCollegiate and earns a PGA Tour start in process. pic.twitter.com/QeUe2XfN2y
— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) March 6, 2024

Thorbjornsen is one of the top amateur golfers in the country, currently ranked No. 2 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings. He is coming off a stress fracture in his back that forced him to miss six months of competitive golf. This win propelled him from No. 5 to No. 2, only behind Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt.

The win for Thorbjornsen takes him to the PGA Tour, earning him a spot at the Worldwide Technology Championships in November.

Preston Summerhays of Arizona State, a 2023 Walker Cup team member, finished in solo third place at 8-under. Jake Hall of Tennessee and Jacob Skov Olesen of Arkansas finished T4 at 7-under, and Matthew Comegys of Texas Tech finished in solo sixth place at 5-under.

William Moll of Vanderbilt, Frederik Kjettrup of Florida State, and Tyran Snyders of Texas Tech finished T7 at 4-under.

Results: Cabo Collegiate

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Michael Thorbjornsen	Wellesley, MA	800	69-65-69=203
2	Michael La Sasso	Raleigh, NC	500	72-68-64=204
3	Preston Summerhays	Scottsdale, AZ	400	70-68-67=205
T4	Jacob Skov Olesen	, Denmark	400	68-67-71=206
T4	Jake Hall	Knoxville, TN	400	67-68-71=206