Before turning professional in June 2023, Åberg had been ranked number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a total of 29 weeks.[7] He finished on top of the 2022–23 PGA Tour University rankings to earn membership on the tour. Within five months of turning professional, Åberg achieved his first tournament victories on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and was a member of the winning European team in the 2023 Ryder Cup.[8]
Early life
Åberg was born on 31 October 1999 in Eslöv, Sweden,[2] to parents Mia and Johan, and has an elder sister named Linnea.[9][10] He was introduced to golf at age eight at the Eslöv Golf Club by his father, who was a keen golfer.[11][12] Initially not fond of the game, his father encouraged him by offering him ice cream if he stayed an extra hour at the course.[13][14]
As the 2020 collegiate season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Åberg returned to Sweden and competed on the Swedish Golf Tour. In July, he recorded his first victory in a professional tournament, at the Katrineholm Open.[29] The following week, Åberg won again on the Swedish Golf Tour. He birdied five of his closing six holes to win the Barsebäck Resort Masters by five strokes.[30] In December, he represented the International Team at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup. He went 4–0 in his matches, as the Internationals won by a score of 401⁄2–191⁄2.[31]
2021–2023
In February 2021, Åberg won the Jones Cup Invitational.[32] He was co-champion at The Prestige later that month,[33] and also the co-champion at the Thunderbird Collegiate in April.[34] In June, he was runner-up at the European Amateur.[35] Åberg was awarded a gold medal in September by the European Golf Association as the top-ranked European amateur golfer of the season, having topped the rankings since March.[36] He made his debut on the PGA Tour in October, as a sponsor's exemption at the Bermuda Championship. He made the cut and finished in a tie for 51st place.[37]
In the spring of 2022, Åberg turned down a 2-year contract worth US$2,500,000 from the newly established LIV Golf League, and continued his collegiate career at Texas Tech University.[38] He won The Prestige for a second time in February,[39] and in April he won the individual title at the Big 12 Men's Golf Championship.[40] Åberg was named in May the Ben Hogan Award winner, as the best college player in the United States.[41] In September, he represented Sweden at the 2022 Eisenhower Trophy, where his team were runners-up and he tied for 7th individually.[42] He rose to number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for the first time in September 2022.[7][43]
Through leading the PGA Tour University rankings, Åberg earned an invitation to compete in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour in January 2023.[44] He held a share of the lead after the first round.[45] In February, he won The Prestige for a third consecutive year.[46] In March, he received a sponsor exemption to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he finished tied for 24th place.[47][48] In April, Åberg broke the scoring record at the Big 12 Men's Golf Championship, to become the first golfer to retain the individual title,[49] and in May he won the Ben Hogan Award for a second time.[50] Åberg secured exempt status on the PGA Tour through the 2024 season by finishing on top of the 2022–23 PGA Tour University rankings, the first year of this exemption in force. He turned professional in June 2023, ending his amateur career ranked number one on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.[51]
Professional career
2023
Åberg made his debut as a professional in June 2023 at the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, where he made the cut and finished in a tie for 25th place.[12] In July, at the John Deere Classic, he recorded his first top-10 on the tour; a final-round 63 put him in a tie for fourth place, three strokes behind winner Sepp Straka.[52] Towards the end of August, Åberg travelled to Europe to compete on the DP World Tour. At the D+D Real Czech Masters, he tied for fourth place after a final-round 66.[53] The following week at the Omega European Masters, he recorded his first win as a professional. He birdied four of the closing five holes in his final round of 64 to finish two strokes ahead of his fellow countryman Alexander Björk.[54] Two weeks later, at the BMW PGA Championship, Åberg held the lead after 54 holes,[55] before a final-round 76 saw him finish in tied-10th place.[56]
Following his victory at the European Masters, on 4 September 2023, Åberg was announced by European captain Luke Donald as one of his six captain's picks for Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup.[57] He became the first player to be selected for a Ryder Cup without having played in a major championship,[58] and the second, after Sergio García, to make a Ryder Cup team during the same year as turning professional.[59] He played four matches at the Ryder Cup, tallying a 2–2–0 record, as Europe won the event 161⁄2–111⁄2. In the Saturday foursomes session, he and Viktor Hovland recorded a 9 and 7 victory over world number one Scottie Scheffler and reigning PGA ChampionBrooks Koepka,[60] setting a new record for the largest winning margin in an 18-hole Ryder Cup match.[61]
The week after the Ryder Cup, Åberg returned to the PGA Tour and finished as joint runner-up in the Sanderson Farms Championship, losing to Luke List in a five-man playoff.[62] In November, Åberg won his first tournament on the PGA Tour, the RSM Classic. He shot back-to-back rounds of 61 on the weekend to finish at 29-under-par, four strokes ahead of Mackenzie Hughes. His 72-hole-score of 253 tied the PGA Tour scoring record held by Justin Thomas.[63] This victory moved Åberg into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking and secured him an invitation to the 2024 Masters Tournament, which would be his first major championship appearance.[64]
2024
At the start of the 2024 season, Åberg switched caddies, replacing Jack Clarke with Rickie Fowler's former caddie Joe Skovron.[65][66] In February, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he was in solo-second place after 54 holes, one stroke behind Wyndham Clark. Due to inclement weather, the tournament was called off and Clark declared the winner before the final round could take place.[67] The result moved Åberg to 11th on the Official World Golf Ranking.[68][69]
Åberg made his major championship debut at the 2024 Masters Tournament in April, finishing solo second to world number one Scottie Scheffler.[70] Two weeks later, he moved to a career-best number six on the Official World Golf Ranking, after starting 2023 outside 3000th.[71] At the 2024 PGA Championship in May, he missed the cut on the number, his first missed cut of the season.[72] During the 2024 U.S. Open in June, Åberg held the lead after two rounds, but a triple-bogey during the third round led to him falling out of contention. He ultimately finished in tied-12th place.[73][74]
At the Genesis Scottish Open in July, Åberg held a two-stroke lead headed into the final round, before a three-over 73 on Sunday caused him to finish in a tie for fourth.[75] The following week, he made his debut at The Open Championship. He missed the cut after carding rounds of 75 and 76.[76] In August, Åberg recorded his third runner-up finish of the year, placing tied-second at the BMW Championship, one shot behind Keegan Bradley.[77]
On 1 September, after finishing 16th at the Tour Championship, Åberg announced that he would undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, an injury which he sustained in May and caused him discomfort through the season.[78][79]
Awards, honors
In November 2021, Åberg was elected honorary member of Eslöv Golf Club.
He won the Ben Hogan Award as the best collegiate player in the United States in both 2022 and 2023.
^Göransson, Carl (4 June 2023). "Åberg inför proffsdebuten: "Lite overkligt"" [Åberg ahead of the professiobnal debut "A little unreal"]. Aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 12 October 2023.
^Hagfeldt, Tomas (2 January 2023). "Ludvig Åberg Årets Golfare efter historisk säsong" [Ludvig Åberg named Swedish Golfer of the Year after historical season]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
