At the U.S. Open, Two Friends Look to Channel Francis Ouimet

That history would mean Thorbjornsen, a star at Stanford University, does what Ouimet did: win the U.S. Open at the Country Club as a 20-year-old amateur. Both entered their tournaments as the defending Massachusetts Amateur champion.

“I think,” Cohen said, “he has the capacity to make a run this week.”

Cohen and Thorbjornsen have been inseparable friends since first meeting in middle school. When Thorbjornsen left Wellesley, Mass., a Boston suburb, after middle school, for IMG Academy in Florida to work on his golf game, Cohen followed. But while Thorbjornsen stayed for three years, Cohen remained for just one.

“Drew was a good golfer,” his mother, Lisa Goldberg, said. “He just wasn’t Michael-good.”

Cohen also missed hockey too much. And when Thorbjornsen returned to Wellesley to finish high school, Cohen, the varsity boys’ hockey captain, made sure his friend was named team manager.

But it is through golf that their bond has grown even stronger. Cohen started caddying for Thorbjornsen last summer and good things happened. Thorbjornsen won the Western Amateur in July 2021. He advanced to the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/sports/golf/us-open-thornbjornsen-amateur.html