New stars who have emerged at FedEx Fall events

Both Theegala and Aberg are now top players. Theegala is currently 12th in the World Rankings. Aberg is 5th. Their FedEx Fall victories paved the way for them to become headliners at every event they enter.

After getting his PGA Tour card for the 2021-2022 season, Theegala earned his first top 10 at Sanderson Farms in 2021. He had many high finishes in that first full year as a PGA Tour player: a 3rd at WM Phoenix Open, a 7th at Valspar, and a 2nd at Travelers. It was a progression that got him to the Tour Championship that first season, which is unusual for a player new to the rigors of professional golf.  

That fall, Theegala finished T-2 at the RSM, and continued his good play all the way through the 2023 season. 

In the FedEx Fall series of 2023, he won his first PGA Tour event at the Fortinet.

An event now called the PROCORE Championship, and he is there this week to defend his title. 

Theegala went from Tour rookie to Tour star, playing in the majors, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup, all in less than three years. And it started in the fall.      

When Theegala called a penalty on himself this year at the Tour Championship because he thought his club touched the sand in his backswing in a bunker, he elevated his position in the eyes of those who play serious golf. It was nearly impossible to see anything, even with video review, but Theegala insisted he had seen sand fly.

It was reminiscent of Bobby Jones who called a penalty on himself on the 11th hole of the 1925 U.S. Open because he touched the grass behind the ball with his club and the ball moved slightly. No one else noticed, but he did and called the penalty on himself.

“You might as well congratulate me for not robbing a bank,” Jones said about the situation at the time.

In Theegala’s case, it caused him to finish third instead of second in the season-ending event.

Then there's Ludvig Aberg, Sweden’s latest phenom, who was the first collegiate player to earn a PGA Tour card in the PGA Tour U system. That provides Tour access to the top college golfer once he is out of school. Aberg took the opportunity and entered several PGA Tour events beginning with the RBC Canadian Open in the summer of  2023.

Aberg was already well-known in Europe, and the DP World Tour invited him to participate in their events over the summer. In August, Aberg went back to Europe and played in DP World Tour events.  In his second tournament, the Omega European Masters, he won. A few weeks later, Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald picked him for the European Ryder Cup team.

After the Ryder Cup, Aberg returned to the U.S. to finish out the PGA Tour season, trying to earn enough FedEx points to upgrade his position for the next season. In the final event of the year, the RSM Classic, hosted by Davis Love III, Aberg was victorious again. That gave him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and entry into all tournaments that invite winners, like the Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Players. He was able to upgrade his status as the year progressed and finished his first year in the top 30 at the Tour Championship.

The best thing about his first year? The Ryder Cup, he said at the Tour Championship. He has no worst thing, although he was suffering from a meniscus tear for which he recently had surgery.  

As we head into this year’s FedEx Fall Series, it’s time to keep our eyes open for who might be the next new stars to emerge in the fall. This year’s PGA Tour U top gun is Michael Thorbjornsen, who is allowed to play the remainder of the 2024 PGA Tour season and 2025 season.

Despite his Scandinavian-sounding name, Thorbjornsen was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and he attended Stanford, where he played collegiate golf. He has played in seven PGA Tour events, and his best finish so far is T2 at the John Deere Classic. He will compete in the PROCORE Championship at Silverado. Is he the next big name on the PGA Tour? We will just have to wait to see.