GRANITEVILLE — It would've been totally understandable for Michael Thorbjornsen's golf game to be a little rusty this week.
The Stanford signee and Massachusetts resident hasn't had many opportunities lately to tee it up – his last tournament was in December at the Junior Presidents Cup in Australia, and he said it may not be fair to even count that one because it's a team event. The U.S. Amateur Championship in August was his last stroke play event.
His expectations for a trip down to the 10th annual Junior Invitational at Sage Valley were to get some quality reps in – basically remind himself of what tournament golf feels like – and get his game in shape for the summer and his move to college.
He may be taking a gold jacket with him. He has a one-shot lead following a 5-under 67 Thursday that included just one bogey in his third appearance at Sage Valley.
"Obviously I played pretty well throughout the whole day. I did have a lot of missed short putts," he said, referring to three-putt pars on 4 and 8 plus short misses for birdie on 10 and par on 12. "... I could've, if I made some of those putts, that would've obviously lowered my score. But I did make a couple 20-footers out there, as well, that kind of compensated for that."
So maybe the putter is where there may be some rust, but even then he said he rolled the ball how he wanted to – these were just misreads. And he still made his fair share of putts, like a par save on 3 that built his confidence and a long birdie putt on 5 that was the first of three in a row.
His ball-striking, which he's been able to practice indoors, produced plenty of birdie opportunities so he could afford a miss or two.
"I hit, I think, every single green except for two of them. Really set myself up well," said Thorbjornsen, No. 33 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking. "I've gained some distance over this offseason, and I think the longest club I had into a par-4 today was, I think, on 17 I had a soft 9-iron. Compared to last year, I think I was hitting 6-iron in there, it made a big difference."
The leaderboard is crowded at the top, which is the norm for junior golf's most star-studded tournament. Every miss can be costly with the world's best in contention.
Luke Potter (68), the fourth-ranked player in the Golfweek/Sagarin Boys' Junior Rankings, birdied four of his first six holes and is alone in second at 4 under. David Ford (69) is another shot back, and seven players are tied for fourth after rounds of 2-under 70.
Among those at 2 under is Ohio State signee Maxwell Moldovan, No. 3 in the junior rankings. Moldovan, who finished one back of champion Tom McKibbin a year ago, got to 3 under on multiple occasions on the back nine but bogeyed 13 and 18. Fourth-ranked Maxwell Ford, a Georgia commit, birdied three of the final six holes to also post 70.
Twenty-two players in the field of 54 shot par or better. Defending champion McKibbin (77) didn't make a birdie and is tied for 43rd at 5 over. No. 1 junior Joseph Pagdin opened with a 74. Second-ranked Karl Vilips was 1 over through five holes before withdrawing due to a finger injury.
The tournament was planned to continue as of Thursday night, but with a restrictive on-site attendance policy going into effect Friday that would keep everyone but players, families and "essential personnel" off the property.
