Rory McIlroy has been saying for a while that Ludvig Aberg is going to be a big deal in golf. On Sunday, everyone saw why.
Aberg, a 24-year-old Swede who turned pro less than a year ago and was ranked ninth in the world, stayed close to the top-ranked player for most of the 72 holes before Scottie Scheffler pulled ahead on the back nine to win his second green jacket by four shots.
Despite never playing on the fast Augusta National greens or in any major championship before Thursday, Aberg finished second at 7-under 281.
“I think everyone in my position wants to win majors and be world No. 1,” Aberg said. “And it’s the same for me. This week showed that those things are possible, and we just need to keep doing what we’re doing and put ourselves in positions to win.”
Even if casual fans didn’t know Aberg before Sunday, they do now. He smiled through the week, even when a fan accidentally knocked a protein bar out of his hand while fist-bumping him at the 10th hole.
Golf can stress him out, but he stays positive to counter it.
When Aberg, tied for the lead with three others, sent his approach shot into the water on the 11th hole, it could have been a setback. But he didn’t dwell on it, bouncing back with birdies on 13 and 14 to briefly narrow the gap with Scheffler. However, Scheffler’s strong play down the stretch dashed any hopes of a comeback.
Aberg said he won’t dwell on the mistake at the 11th hole. He explained that he simply started the shot too far left, caught the wind, and it ended up in the pond.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Aberg said, “but my team and I have focused on just keeping on playing no matter what happens. If you keep playing, your skills will shine through. Once you stop playing, that’s when your skills don’t show up.”
Aberg noted that it was one of the few poor shots he made all week. Despite starting with a 73 on Thursday, he played the final three rounds at 8 under. He hit 79% of fairways and 61% of greens in regulation.
“This being my first major tournament, you never know what it’s going to be like until you’re there and experience it,” Aberg said.
“I think this week has given me a lot of experiences and a lot of lessons learned in terms of those things. It makes me hungry, and it makes me want to do it again and again.”
It wasn’t until after the round, when Aberg saw his family and his girlfriend, that he let his emotions out.
“When you’re playing Augusta, you can’t put your guard down,” Aberg said. “You have to stay focused all the time. I think once you hole out your last putt on 18 you can kind of breath a little bit and that’s what I did.”
As for McIlroy’s repeated praise, Aberg is trying to take in stride.
“Well, it’s very flattering,” Aberg said. “To me, it just tells me that we are doing some good things, me and my team, and we’re probably not going to change a lot. But hearing those things from Rory and those guys is very, very encouraging.”
