00:00Heck of an achievement.
00:01I mean, this kid, it's, you know, we got a lot of young winners right now
00:04on the PGA Tour.
00:05Everybody was talking about Jackson Koivin coming into this week.
00:08Michael Thorne Bjortsen was a player who we documented coming into this season.
00:12He's another PGA Tour U guy.
00:14Tons of talent coming out of Stanford.
00:16He's had plenty of success on the PGA Tour.
00:18Coming into the year, Steve, and I said,
00:20if this guy can just round out his game around the greens,
00:25I mean, really the sky's the limit for Michael.
00:27Is that, you know, when he steps in, a guy like that steps into your office,
00:30that's the exact type of player you want to come in
00:32because you know he's going to be so solid from tee to green.
00:37Oh, yeah.
00:37I mean, I was so excited when I first found out
00:41that I was going to have a chance to work with him.
00:44Going back to the Travelers two years ago when he got his PGA Tour U card,
00:50you know, they gave him an invite into that elevated event.
00:52And, you know, meeting up with him there for the first time,
00:57and then all the way, like, you know, through to today
01:00to see obviously him win and just what it meant to him
01:04and, you know, his family and, you know,
01:06his dad's been heavily involved for such a long time.
01:09It's really cool to be able to watch that happen.
01:13Well, he's got a lot of unique stuff about his action, right?
01:17Like he's, his golf swing is, it's very, very good.
01:21He hits it very far, hits a straight, hits a lot of greens,
01:23but he's got a 10-finger grip.
01:25And I know we're not here to talk about his full swing,
01:28but he does it kind of in his own way,
01:30which I think when a student like that shows up into your office,
01:34that's kind of nice that you know that he's got some creativity,
01:38at least in the way he plays the game.
01:40Oh, for sure, for sure.
01:41I mean, you know, with the amount of players that I coach,
01:45I mean, you see me out there week to week.
01:46Like, it's tough to get on the golf course to see them live in action.
01:51And, you know, I'd worked with him for a while
01:53and eventually at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow,
01:59I got out to see him.
02:01And the first shot I didn't even see him hit was on 17 on the par three.
02:06And he was playing with another really top young player
02:09who everyone would know.
02:10But, you know, the other guy hits first.
02:13First, I was grabbing a water out of the cooler and Michael hit.
02:17And it was the third person that's ever made me do this.
02:20I literally like turned around immediately,
02:22like the sound off the club.
02:25You know, it was just different.
02:28And, you know, as a putting guy, like you,
02:30I don't get that excited about full game stuff.
02:33But it was one of those, like you immediately turn around,
02:36like what was that was, that was not normal, you know?
02:38So he's got just an immense amount of talent.
02:43And it's so good to see him finally get it over the line.
02:46All right.
02:47So what's in Michael's DNA when it comes to just his overall short game?
02:51Like when he shows up, you know, in your office
02:54or the first time into your studio,
02:56what were his beliefs in putting?
02:59And what did you see in his just overall DNA?
03:02And did any of it have any translation
03:04between how he swung the golf club
03:06or how he set up to the golf ball
03:07and kind of what was in his putting stroke?
03:11Yeah, I mean, it's, you've been to my studio, Smiley.
03:14You've sort of seen hide-boosings.
03:16And you've sort of seen behind the curtain a little bit.
03:19But, you know, because he's got so much natural talent,
03:24I think he was kind of winging it a lot with his putting
03:27as far as just, you know, I'll try this or I'll try that.
03:31And when I first met him, he was cross-handed.
03:34And, you know, that was something that, like,
03:37it was part of his DNA by that point.
03:39Obviously, he was the best player at Stanford,
03:42won PGA Tour U.
03:43But, you know, it wasn't a case of
03:46there was any reason why he did things.
03:49There was no real baseline around,
03:51A, how he practiced,
03:53or B, what he was kind of working on
03:55from a week-to-week kind of point of view.
03:59So, very raw, but obviously super talented.
04:03So, the main things that we really tried to do
04:06were just to instill good baselines
04:10and, you know, give him some drills
04:12that he could work off statistically
04:15with strokes gained in mind and stuff like that.
04:18And, you know, the one thing I will say to his credit,
04:22the first probably couple of months,
04:26you know, it was a little learning curve for both of us.
04:28But, you know, he really showed an ability
04:32to become a great short putter.
04:34And, you know, with as good as he hits the golf ball,
04:38essentially, the big thing was
04:40to try and be a little bit more consistent
04:43with his speed.
04:44And then, on top of that,
04:46you know, just trying to capitalize
04:48a little bit more
04:49on some of these mid-range birdie efforts
04:51that you need to win tournaments.
04:53Because, you know, you obviously got to make
04:55a lot, a lot of birdies out there now.
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