Braden Thornberry has been on quite a roll since hoisting The Patriot All-America’s unique F-35 trophy in December of 2015 at The Wigwam Resort. In 2017, he won the NCAA individual golf championship, made his PGA TOUR debut at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and placed fourth, and competed on the winning U.S. Walker Cup team. In 2018, Thornberry was the top-ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and was awarded the prestigious Mark H. McCormack Medal on August 27th.
The McCormack award goes to the top-ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking following the U.S. Amateur each year. The Olive Branch, Miss., native beat out No. 2-ranked Justin Suh of USC and No. 3-ranked Collin Morikawa of Cal.
As the winner of the McCormack Medal, Thornberry, a senior at Ole Miss, earns invites into next summer’s U.S. Open and British Open – provided he remains an amateur. Thornberry told Golfweek in early August that he plans to compete in the second stage of Web.com Tour Q-School this fall. If he advances to final stage and earns full status on the Web.com Tour, he will leave Ole Miss midseason and turn pro. If not, he’ll return for his final spring season, graduate and then turn pro next summer.
Through three seasons at Ole Miss, Thornberry has won a school-record 11 times and won the Haskins Award as the top player in college golf as a sophomore.
In 2015, Thornberry shot an even-par, final round 71 and 2-under (211) for the tournament to win The Patriot All-America Invitational by one shot over Adam Wood from Duke University and David Kocher from the University of Maryland.