361: Sean Foley on Thorbjornsen's First PGA TOUR Win, Tom Kim's Comeback & Michael Kim's Rebuild

Sean Foley joins the show to break down Michael Thorbjornsen's first PGA Tour win at the Rocket Classic — a bogey-free final-round 63 that came together in barely six weeks of work with Foley, built around going back to video of Thorbjornsen's swing from Stanford in 2018. Foley walks through exactly what he saw, what they're working on, and why the answer was already in Thorbjornsen's own history.

Plus: Foley digs into his full player room this summer — Tom Kim's emotional Genesis Scottish Open win, Michael Kim's historic 59 at the 3M Open and the three-month process of retraining his swing around a stronger grip, Ben An's four-year driver transformation, and the "humans first, golfer second" coaching philosophy he's built over two decades on tour with players like Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, and Hunter Mahan.

Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and follow us on socials @thesmylieshow!

Chapters

0:00 Intro & congrats to Sean Foley on Thorbjornsen's Rocket Classic win
2:08 Foley on watching Thor's win & his history with Michael since age 16
4:02 Foley's 20-year coaching evolution — "player support," humans first golfer second
6:29 Scottie Scheffler's rising floor & the new generation's mindset
7:28 Tom Kim & Thorbjornsen's shared high expectations turning pro
8:23 Coaching Tom Kim: rebuilding posture, connection & swing DNA
11:09 Thorbjornsen's swing fix: back to his 2018 Stanford video
12:14 Breaking down Thorbjornsen's swing — grip, posture, wrist angles
19:32 Thor's shot-shape arsenal beyond the draw
21:13 Foley's coaching philosophy
23:23 Michael Kim's comeback
25:16 Retraining Kim's pattern — hitting snap hooks for 3 months
28:16 Coaching psychology — bad memories & letting players enjoy wins
30:18 Consistency over "feel" & the dad-as-coach dynamic
32:35 Enjoying golf vs. having fun — and Foley's "do no harm" rule

#golf #pgatour #smylieshow #michaelthorbjornsen #rocketclassic #smyliekaufman