When he walks into a conference room and surveys a table surrounded by sports writers, Ludvig Åberg looked cool as a cucumber. He sat down, leaned back, and surveyed the scene with a disarming smile.
With thanks to Mercedes Benz, proud patrons of the Open Championship and for whom the Swede is an Ambassador, he was donating a sizeable chunk of his evening to various media outlets.
And he was ready to go. Over the following 30 minutes or so, the smile only disappeared in order to answer the wide-ranging questions thrown at him in the thoughtful, casual, honest-seeming manner that we’ve become accustomed to.
It’s hard to believe that just two years ago, he was a recent college graduate who’d taken to the pro ranks like the proverbial duck to water. But then again, it’s hard to believe that he’d been on the first tee at the Ryder Cup before he’d been on the first tee at a major championship, that he’d won on both the DP World and PGA Tours within six months of signing his first pro contract, and that he’d co-lead the Masters – his first ever major championship – with nine holes to go on Sunday.
But then again, it’s been a whirlwind ride that’s vastly exceeded even his own expectations.
“When I turned pro, [looking ahead to] those first six months, all I wanted to do was make it into the top 50 in the world because that would mean I could play in all the majors the next year,” he said. “I wanted to play in all the big events and once I did that, I wanted to win a tournament, then to win a big tournament, and I wanted to be a part of the Ryder Cup.”
That was a future Ryder Cup, he meant, not the one taking place in Rome just a couple of months later. But, as we all know, he was well ahead of schedule there too, even if he didn’t fully believe that he was ready for or capable of handling the pressure that the Ryder Cup brings.
“I was for sure,” he replied when asked if he’d had doubts over his worthiness. “But the nice thing was that I was able to win in Switzerland [the DP World Tour’s Omega Masters atCrans-Sur-Sierre]. Because I was a Captain’s pick, selfishly, it was really great to have a professional win under my belt.
“But yeah, any rookie that qualifies or gets picked is going to have doubts and questions, but especially one who was still at school four months earlier.
“And I’d never really spent any time around Rory or Jon Rahm, or any of those guys. I’d only really seen them on TV, so getting to know all those guys and getting comfortable around them was one of the biggest things I’d take away from it.”
Since then, he’s become a regular feature in tournament marquee groupings, but he did admit to having a ‘pinch me’ moment several months later.
“I was playing a practise round with Rory at Augusta – not this year, but back in 2024 – and we were walking down, number 11. He was in front of me with Harry [Diamond], and I just slowed down a little bit, just watching them and looking down at the 11th green, at 12, 13…. I was playing, you know, and I turned pro not even a year ago, so that was a really cool moment and something that will probably stick with me for a long time and I think it’s important to remember that we should not take these things for granted because we are very fortunate to be able to do the things we are and I do consider myself very fortunate.”
Åberg is one of the pre-tournament bookmaker’s favourites again in what’s been a familiar pattern in his major championship career, even though he found the going tough in his Open Championship debut last year at Royal Troon.
“Everyone talks about the wind and the rain being such a factor, and I think I kind of underestimated it a bit,” he admitted. “I went into that tournament thinking it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, so it definitely caught me off guard. This year, I know from experience that it is a big deal and you have to be OK with whatever gets thrown at you. I think having that acceptance mindset is going to be very important.”
Earlier this year, Åberg captured his third professional title and his biggest to date when he finished in style at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines, and got back into contention again at Augusta National before a late slip. Now, he feels he has everything he needs to make the next step and become a major champion.
“I think so,” he said. “I definitely feel like I have the tools and the ability to do that. Obviously you need to put it all together in four days of tournament play, but I do feel like the experiences that I’ve had both in majors and non-majors this last 24 months or so has definitely made me realise that I can do it. So yeah, I definitely feel, going into a tournament like this, I want to win and I want to perform.”
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