For Braden Thornberry, the journey to the PGA Tour has been anything but easy. While Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, his former amateur peers, burst onto the scene with major wins and six PGA Tour titles each, Thornberry’s path to the big leagues was marked by setbacks and years of frustration. In a candid conversation on GOLF’s Subpar podcast, Thornberry shared how it felt to watch Morikawa, Hovland, and others achieve success quickly, while his own journey to the PGA seemed endlessly delayed.
“It was very frustrating,” Thornberry admitted, recalling how he had turned pro with high hopes but struggled to earn PGA Tour invites. While Morikawa and Hovland appeared at event after event, Thornberry couldn’t break into the same lineup. “That was a little disappointing to me,” he reflected, knowing that as an amateur, he had once outplayed them—most notably at the 2017 Sunnehanna Amateur, where he bested Morikawa. Yet, by the time his former rivals made waves on the PGA Tour, Thornberry was still grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour, trying to keep his own PGA dreams alive.
Thornberry joined the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 with the aim of securing one of the 30 coveted PGA Tour cards at the end of the season. But despite rigorous practice and applying everything that had once helped him succeed as an amateur, success on the Korn Ferry Tour was elusive. Thornberry spent nearly six years working tirelessly, only to fall short year after year. Doubts crept in, and people around him began to question whether he envied the players who had leapt ahead of him. Thornberry was quick to clarify, though—while he felt frustrated, he never felt “jealous.”
Finally, in a testament to his resilience, Thornberry secured his PGA Tour card after clinching the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Reflecting on his long road, he said he was “extremely grateful and proud” of how he handled the struggles. “Without [perseverance],” he said, “I would never have gotten here.” Now, Thornberry will join Morikawa, Hovland, and a new generation of golfers on the PGA Tour for the 2025 season.
Thornberry’s story sheds light on the stark realities of professional golf, where immense talent doesn’t always guarantee quick success. While Morikawa and Hovland may have been seen as golf’s “big four” alongside Justin Su and Matthew Wolff, Thornberry’s hard-won place among them underscores the perseverance it takes to make it.
