Ludvig Aberg

Aberg was born and grew up in Eslov in the province of Skane, Sweden. The town is in the southern third of the country with a population of roughly 20,000. Among the town's top tourist attractions are a toy museum and a handful of castles and churches. In 2007, he began playing golf at the local club, Eslov Golf Club. Ludvig grew up playing soccer until he shifted his focus to golf at age 13. He played central midfielder, a position he enjoyed because it involved so much of the action and gave him a sense of control. Aberg succeeded as a junior golfer, winning the Swedish Teen Tour Order of Merit in 2016 and being awarded the Annika Sorenstam Trophy.
Aberg represented Sweden internationally in 2017. He was the individual leader at the 2017 European Boys' Team Championship in La Manga, Spain. He won the 2017 Fairhaven Trophy in England and finished third individually at the 2018 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan. He finished 7th at the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and made his European Tour debut at the 2018 Nordea Masters, where he finished T-34th.
2019 Notes: Enjoyed a strong 2019 in amateur championships across the globe, finishing second in the African Amateur Stroke Play Championship in February, reaching the Round of 32 at The Amateur in Ireland, and finishing T-10th at the European Amateur Championship in Austria in June, and reaching the Round of 32 in the U.S. Amateur Championship at Pinehurst, losing to William Holcomb V 1 up. Aberg was educated at the Swedish national upper secondary sports school ("Riksidrottsgymnasium") in Helsingborg before joining Texas Tech in the fall of 2019 to play collegiate golf in the United States as a member of the Red Raiders golf team. Aberg was part of the winning Swedish team at the 2019 European Amateur Team Championship (Went 4-1 in match play), held on home soil at Ljunghusen Golf Club just 40 miles from his hometown of Eslov. He finished 2019 with a win at the Sun Bowl Marathon All-America Golf Classic, a 54-hole off-season event in El Paso, Texas, for the nation's top collegians.
2020 Notes: In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down college golf in the U.S., Aberg spent six months in Europe competing in the Nordic Golf League, winning two events. In December he represented the International Team at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup.
2021 Notes: In February, Aberg won the Jones Cup Invitational at Sea Island, Georgia, after an opening round of 62 and 6 straight birdies. He finished a shot ahead of Cole Hammer, defending champion Davis Thompson, and Alex Fitzpatrick (younger brother of 2022 U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick). Past winners of the Jones Cup include Akshay Bhatia (2019), Beau Hossler (2016), Corey Conners (2014), Justin Thomas (2012), and Luke List (2007). The win earned him a start at the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour (he missed the cut at the RSM). In April he became the number one ranked amateur golfer in Europe, as tracked by the European Golf Association. Aberg was runner-up at the 2021 European Amateur in France. He took the halfway lead with a total of 16 under, a record 36-hole to-par score for the championship. He ended the tournament in second place, two shots behind Denmark's Christoffer Bring. Aberg, the world's third-ranked amateur at the time, received a sponsor's exemption for the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour, he was T-10th after the first round and made the 36-hole cut finishing T-51st.
2022 Notes: In May, Aberg was named the Ben Hogan Award winner as the best college player in the United States. He won the award again in May 2023, becoming only the second person to be a two-time winner and the first since Jon Rahm. At the 2022 Big 12 Championship, Aberg finished two shots ahead of runner-up Chris Gotterup. He also won the 2022 Jack Nicklaus, Fred Haskins, and Big 12 Player of the Year awards. Aberg represented Sweden at the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy, where his team finished 2nd, one shot behind Italy and Aberg T-7th individually. Later in September, he rose to number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Was a quarterfinalist at the 2022 Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, losing to Sam Bairstow 2 up. Fell to Ricky Castillo 1 up in the Round of 64 at the 2022 U.S. Amateur Championship at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. Played in the Valero Texas Open and missed the cut. Aberg was the top-ranked player in the PGA Tour University points standings at the end of the 2022 fall season, which earned him a spot in the field at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour in January 2023. He shot an opening-round 65 in his Rolex Series debut to share the lead after the first round but finished T-70th among the 87 players who made the cut.
2023 Notes: In February, he won The Prestige for a third consecutive year. In March he received a sponsor exemption to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a designated PGA Tour event. After two consecutive rounds of 70, he was T-9th and finished the tournament 2-under T-24th. Won the 2023 Big 12 Championship by eight shots at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, totaling 15-under 265 to shatter the tournament 72-hole scoring record of 276 shared by Oklahoma State's Morgan Hoffmann (2009) and Texas' Cole Hammer (2019). Played four seasons at Texas Tech University (2019-23) and departed as the most decorated player in program history, sweeping the national player of the year awards in 2023, garnering three consecutive All-America First Team selections (2021, 2022, 2023), earning Arnold Palmer Cup International Team selections in 2020 and 2022, and amassing eight individual wins in collegiate events. Aberg secured fully exempt status on the PGA Tour through the 2024 season by finishing on top of the 2022-23 PGA Tour University rankings, becoming the first player to earn this exemption. He turned professional in June 2023, ending his amateur career ranked first on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Aberg debuted as a professional in June at the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, where he made the cut and finished T-25th. In July, at the John Deere Classic, he recorded his first top 10 on the tour; a final-round 63 put him in a T-4th, three shots behind winner Sepp Straka. He was T-14th at the Wyndham Championship. In an attempt to qualify for the 2023 European Ryder Cup team, Aberg traveled to Europe to compete in the last two European Tour events before the deadline of the selections. At the D+D Real Czech Masters, he finished in a T-4th, five back of the winner Todd Clements, after a final-round 66. The following week, at the Omega European Masters, his ninth tournament as a professional, Aberg got his first win. He birdied four of the closing five holes in his final round of 64 to finish two shots ahead of fellow countryman Alexander Bjork. The next day, on September 4, Aberg was announced by European captain Luke Donald as one of his six captains' picks for Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup. Before the Ryder Cup, finished T-10th at the BMW PGA Championship. He compiled a 2-2-0 record for Team Europe in his Ryder Cup debut in Italy. Fell to Brooks Koepka, 3 and 2, in Singles. On his return to the PGA Tour, he was T-2nd at the Sanderson Farms Championship, losing in a playoff to Luke List. Was T-13th at the Shriners Children's and T-10th at the World Wide Technology. In the final event for the 2024 season, the RSM Classic had one of the best performances of the year, with rounds of 67-64-61-61. He won his first PGA Tour title, and his 253 total tied the PGA Tour record for the low 72-hole score. His closing rounds of 61-61 set the PGA Tour record for the lowest closing 36-hole total on Tour. With the victory, he finished the year 53rd in the FedExCup fall standings and moved to 32nd in the World Rankings, but most importantly, he gained entry into every important event in 2024. Hard to believe he has accomplished all this despite never playing in a major championship.
2024 Notes: Was T-9th at the Farmers Insurance Open. He held a share of the lead after the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and went on to finish 2nd in his tournament debut; with the event shortened to 54 holes due to weather and safety concerns, he was a shot back of the winner Wyndham Clark. Shot 67-67 over the weekend to finish 8th at the Players Championship. In his first start in a major championship at the Masters, Aberg finished 2nd, four shots back of the winner Scottie Scheffler. The last person to accomplish this feat at the Masters was Will Zalatoris, who was runner-up in his Masters debut in 2021. In the last 54 years of major championships, this has happened just twice by Aberg, and Niclas Fasth at the 2001 Open Championship. Aberg finished T-5th at the Memorial Tournament, six shots back of the winner Scottie Scheffler. At the U.S. Open, he shot 66-69 to lead at the halfway mark. Shot 73-73 to fall back into a T-12th, seven shots back of the winner Bryson DeChambeau. He had a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Genesis Scottish Open but shot 73 in the final round to finish 4th, four shots back of the winner Robert MacIntyre.