Ludvig Aberg in first Tour Championship: “I've looked forward to it for a long time.”

Ludvig Aberg had watched the Tour Championship on TV and wanted to play East Lake Golf Club in a college tournament. But his roommate at Texas Tech tested positive for COVID and ruined his chance to do that.

“I've looked forward to it for a long time,” he said prior to the Tour Championship. “I was healthy, I was fit, but these contact tracing, whatever they called it back then, so I couldn't go. I was at home watching it, and I remember that was tough."  

Now he gets a chance to play it as a pro, having made the top 30, which is extraordinary considering that he’s just finishing his first full year as a PGA Tour player.

Aberg earned his way onto the PGA Tour last spring through the PGA Tour University point system.

Ludvig Aberg was the first player to do that.

Then he doubled down in the fall by winning the Tour’s RSM Classic.  That gave him an opportunity to set a schedule as a Tour winner.  

As if that wasn’t enough, he earned his way into some Signature Events, like the Genesis Invitational, where Riviera Country Club made a big impression.  

“I love it. It's so good because it's stood the test of time. But it's still really tricky when the greens are firm and you're really working the angles,” he noted about the historic track. “I think once you have played there a few times, you kind of know where you can't go and where you should have the pitches from and the putts from. I'm definitely looking forward to coming back there next year and giving it another shot.”

Now, as a top 30 player, he will definitely get that chance because he qualifies for the Signature Events and majors. He’s done so well that he’s currently 4th in the world golf rankings. 

When asked about some of the best things he’s experienced since turning pro, playing in the Ryder Cup as a member of the European team was at the top of his list.

“Being part of Team Europe was amazing. It was really cool and something that I'll never forget,” he admitted. 

He did not have any worst moments for memories. He said that’s in part because he’s a positive person.

“I feel like even though something bad is happening, I still feel like because I'm a rookie, I see those as kind of a learning curve,” he explained.  “Whether it's a missed cut or a bad round or a bad tournament or whatever, it's a part of it. It's a part of playing golf and professional sports.”  

His stats for the season show he’s 20th in driving distance with a 309-yard average, 47th in greens in regulation, and 34th in putting average, taking 1.74 putts per green in regulation. He has a scoring average of 69.45 which is 17th on the PGA Tour. Not bad for a relative newbie.  

He’s been working to smooth out some rough patches in his swing.

“I felt definitely over the weekend in Memphis that it got better. I was seeing the shots that I wanted. I was seeing the misses that I wanted, which is the big thing for me,” he said. 

Summarizing the year, Aberg said, “This 15, 12 months has been amazing for me on the golf course, and it's given me a lot of opportunities and a lot of chances that I haven't had before, and I embrace those, and I love playing golf, and I love being here.”

This fall, he’s going to play the DP World Tour, hang out with his girlfriend, watch Premier League football (soccer) and spend some time in Sweden, likely around the Christmas holiday.

“I definitely want to go home, see some friends and family and those things,” he summed up.