Aberg’s Ascent To The Top Of Professional Golf

28 November 2023

With a population of less than 20,000 people, the quiet Swedish town of Eslov is home to one of the most talented and exciting golfers to watch in the world right now, by the name of Ludvig Aberg.

Let’s be honest, many golfers and fans alike would have known little about the Scandinavian at the start of 2023, albeit he had hit the heights of the amateur game in recent years.

Aberg was ranked #1 Amateur for 29 weeks, winning the Ben Hogan Award as the best collegiate player in the United States in both 2022 and 2023, and finishing top of the 2022-23 PGA Tour University rankings to earn membership on the tour.

Turning Professional in June 2023, Aberg has already won on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour and in March 2024, just 9 months after turning pro entered the World’s Top 10.

Not only that, he was part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team in Rome, where he and his partner Viktor Hovland took down World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler and 5-time Major Champion Brooks Kopeka 9&7, to record the largest winning margin in an 18 hole Ryder Cup match of all-time.

Adding to his two wins as an amateur on the Swedish Golf Tour, as well as a host of other accolades in the amateur game, Aberg has quickly asserted himself as one of the star attractions to draw crowds at events across the world.

His recent win at the RSM Classic was simply sensational. Back-to-back weekend rounds of 61, saw him win by four strokes, equaling Just Thomas’s PGA winning score record of 253 and propelling himself to World Number 32.

Not only that, by moving into the World’s Top 50, Aberg has secured his place at the 2024 Masters, which will be his first ever appearance in a Major.

Winning Ryder Cup Player

We cannot go without mentioning and paying credit to Luke Donald and his team for the faith they showed in Aberg prior to the Ryder Cup. Donald was tracking his game in the USA and challenged him to come over to Europe, where he subsequently won in Switzerland at the Omega European Masters, following a tie for 4th at the Czech Masters the week before.

That form combined with a 4th place finish at the John Deere Classic in only his second professional start and a solid performance at the RBC Canadian Open were enough to convince Donald that he was a Captain’s Pick for Rome – and it couldn’t have been more justified.

He won two of his four matches in Rome, both in the foursomes alongside Hovland, which was a magnificent achievement considering he had a World Ranking of 80 when the competition got underway, second lowest only to fellow ‘rookie’ Nicolai Hojgaard, who was ranked 82nd at the time.

Hojgaard has himself entered the World’s Top 50 following his recent win at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

We cannot leave out Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre – he’s secured his PGA Tour card for 2024, following his impressive season on the DP World Tour, finishing second to Rory McIlroy at the Genesis Scottish Open in July, and claiming the most ‘rookie’ Ryder Cup points in Rome, with 2.5 points secured for the Oban star.

Aberg’s aforementioned demolition job of Koepka and Scheffler reduced the Texan to tears, it was a truly extraordinary moment in the history of the Ryder Cup, Aberg had firmly arrived on the biggest stage in golf.

Aberg’s Awe-Inspiring Stats Behind His Game

Given his recent success in such a short space of time, it is not surprising that Aberg’s stats and performance data are some of the most impressive in the game right now.

Here we have some of his top stats:

Strokes Gained: Total – 10th

Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green – 10th

Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee – 2nd

Greens in Regulation – 2nd

Proximity to Hole – 2nd

Given that Aberg started the year as an amateur, these stats are truly remarkable! From unranked to one of the top players at the highest level in Professional golf, Ludvig is blazing the trail for PGA Tour University graduates.

Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee, Aberg is second only to Scottie Scheffler who has topped the list all season. At present, this places him above one of the best drivers of the ball the game has ever seen in Rory McIlroy.

In terms of Greens in Regulation, Ludvig is just shy of hitting 3 out of 4 greens, 73% on average, roughly 13.5 greens per round. Top Tour players miss greens but they get up and down where amateurs do not.

Ranked second in proximity to the hole, Aberg’s average is 33’4″ – is this as close as you would expect from a Tour Pro? A common misconception amongst amateurs is that they should be hitting the ball a lot closer to the hole than they do, but they probably shouldn’t be!

Managing your expectations on the course can go a long way to helping you save strokes and enjoy golf, find out how to remove emotion from your bag here.

What Will 2024 Bring For Aberg?

We will certainly be watching how Ludvig progresses in 2024, it will be fascinating to see how he plays firstly in the Masters and then in the seasons other Majors.

Could he win? Definitely in his career, he can.

Will it be next year? It could be, he has the game at the moment to challenge the very best; Rahm, McIlroy, Scheffler, Hovland, Fleetwood, and Co.

It will be fascinating to watch behind the ropes, just how far can Ludvig go?

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