Ludvig Aberg approached this interview feeling like he was on a movie set.
Director’s chairs were flanked by cameras, boom mics, tripods and lighting equipment as in-house and external media were capturing content with the 24-year-old Swede, Collin Morikawa, Grace Kim and other adidas golf ambassadors ahead of their seasons and in anticipation of the release of the adidas Tour360 24.
While Aberg may have felt like he was on a movie set that afternoon in Hawaii, he was certainly the star of a feel-good film during his rookie season on the PGA Tour.
After turning professional in June, Aberg recorded four top-10 finishes in 11 PGA Tour events, including one victory (The RSM Classic), one runner-up, three top-5s and $3.14 million in earnings. To add a cherry on top, Aberg etched his name in the history books by becoming the first golfer to participate in the Ryder Cup before playing in a major.
“Last year was almost a little bit beyond my dreams in terms of what I thought I was going to accomplish that quickly,” Aberg said. “But that’s also in the past and there’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do, and what I’m really looking forward to and what I’m really, really excited about, is this season and the opportunities I created for myself by playing well last year and now what I can do this season.
“That’s what I’m getting really excited about and hopefully I’ll be able to keep up the good play and sit here in a year’s time and say the same thing.”
A native of Eslov, Sweden, Aberg rose to prominence at Texas Tech University where he won the 2022 Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship individual title and was named winner of the Ben Hogan Award given to the top collegiate golfer in 2022 and 2023.
Earning exemption on the PGA Tour through the 2024 season by finishing atop the 2022-23 PGA Tour University rankings, Aberg, who was No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, turned professional in June and made his debut at the RBC Canadian Open.
Thus began the Cinderella story. Aberg finished 12th in scoring average (69.604) and 53rd in the FedExCup Fall standings while impressively adding victories on the DP World Tour (Omega European Masters) and PGA Tour (The RSM Classic) to his budding résumé, which also includes a Ryder Cup victory as Team Europe defeated Team U.S. 16 ½ to 11 ½.
No pressure for the 2022-23 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year nominee, right?
“A lot of these things I’m doing at the moment, it’s the first time I’m doing it,” he said. “All I try to do is embrace it and have fun with it. I understand that if you do well, there’s going to be a lot more eyes on you, which is just natural and it’s part of being a professional athlete. I accept that. I embrace it. What I can do is try to prepare for each tournament the best I can and make sure I’m ready to go come Thursday when the tournament starts.”
To assist with his preparation and success in his first full season on the PGA Tour, Aberg enlisted veteran caddie Joe Skovron, who was Rickie Fowler’s long-time caddie and most recently on the bag for Tom Kim.
“Joe’s a world-class caddie,” Aberg said. “He’s been there. He’s done it. He’s been at all these big events and I think he’s going to bring so much knowledge and experience to the table and that’s what I was looking for in a caddie.”
While the 2024 PGA Tour season is less than three months in, Aberg is picking up where he left off from his rookie season and is doing his best to avoid a sophomore slump.
After finishing T47 and T30 at The Sentry and Sony Open, respectively, Aberg finished T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open before a runner-up finish at the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Aberg finished T19 at the Genesis Invitational, T25 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and eighth at the Players Championship. He’s currently No. 9 in the FedExCup standings in his first full season on Tour.
With sky-high external expectations, coupled with the additional pressure of checking off numerous “firsts” as a professional, including playing in his first major tournament, Aberg isn’t adding to any unnecessary anxiety.
“I think it’s important to have goals. I think it’s a good thing to do because it makes it very clear what you want to do but I don’t try to set a number of wins because, at the end of the day, that’s not something I can control,” Aberg said. “I can’t control if the guy next to me shoots 10-under in the final round to win. All I can do is try to prepare, try to have good practice on my off weeks and make sure I’m ready to go come Thursday.
“I’m really excited about just competing this year, playing all these big events I wasn’t able to play last year and kind of see where that takes me.”
Unsurprisingly, he’s got golf’s most prestigious event circled on his calendar this year.
“The Masters is definitely an event I’m looking forward to,” he said. “You hear so much about The Masters and Augusta and the history and all of these things that I’m just so excited to go play and experience. I can’t wait for that week to come and hopefully I’ll be able to play some good golf as well.”
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