ORLANDO – Ludvig Åberg did not win The Arnie Eventbut he had his best start of the year, finishing third and closing with a 67 that left him tanned, not rested, but very ready for a home game: the 26-year-old Swedish golfer with his perfect swing from Byron lives just down the road from the Stadium Course, this week’s home. Players Championship. He sees Vijay Singh (now and again) in the verse there, and Jay Monahan in the club. He knows every last hook jump on the course will end with a splash.
Yes, what’s true for us is true for them: Keeping your golf ball dry is the highest priority at the course formerly known as TPC Sawgrass. In the unlikely event that Åberg forgets that credo even for a moment asleep at the wheel, his caddy will surely remind him. Åberg’s caddy, as of this year, is Joe Skovron. Yes, the same cool and collected Joe Skovron about it Rickie Fowler when Fowler won the Players 2015. This will be Åberg’s third. In 2024, as a rookie, he had a T8 finish. Last year, he missed the cut.
Players at every position have won at Ponte Vedra Beach, including Calvin Peete, Lee Janzen, Fred Funk, Tim Clark, Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson. But let’s not forget the horsepower-laden players who have won there: Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Davis Love, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler. Enter Ludvig—all 6-foot-three inches and 190 pounds of him, fit and at home.
“It’s a course where it’s clear what you have to do, but you still have to get there,” he said Sunday night at Bay Hill. “You have to hit the right shots at the right time. I like the bottom: 16, 17, 18. You have to step up and hit the golf shots all the way.”
A few minutes ago, he had been having a good time, talking to Swedish TV reporters in Swedish. Every now and then, you would hear some English: Bay Hill, The Players, a bird here, a bird there. Åberg shot 12 under at Bay Hill, three shots clear of the Daniel Berger-Akshay Bhatia playoff, won by Bhatia.
He is not the first Swedish player to come to America loaded with promise and talent. Jesper Parnevik, the son of a Swedish comedian, had almost too much personality to be a consistent contender on the PGA Tour, but it was a joy to watch him play his scintillating golf. Annika Sorenstam it didn’t take great skill to become one of the greatest female players of all time – she was ruthlessly accurate. Åberg can tell the difference between them. He is extremely powerful, like Henrik Stenson, but has more finesse. Each of these four golfers speaks remarkably accurate English, as do many European golfers. Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm express themselves masterfully, in good times and in bad. Seve Ballesteros, in his own way, did too.
“Sometimes I can’t find a word in English and sometimes I can’t find a word in Swedish,” Åberg said. “It’s a little complicated.” It must be in his head. We can’t see it.
Of course, part of the beauty of golf is that it’s a great activity for nonverbal expression. In the year 2024 MastersÅberg won over galleries not with witty guilds with his playing partners or under trees. He did it with his excellent movement, his pace of play, his easy smile in good moments and his noiseless response to unforced errors. Also, he was the new guy. He finished 2nd in ’24 and 7th last year.
Speaking of nonverbal communication, Woods paid Åberg the ultimate compliment at a TGL event last year. Åberg was warming up. Woods was taking a walk around the field. He paused, folded his arms across his chest – and stared in silence. It’s not something he does often. When Åberg won the Genesis Invitational last year, it was Woods who presented him with the trophy.
Åberg was asked if she could feel Woods’ eyes on her at the TGL event at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
“I remember that,” he said. “It was a nervous, stressful moment.”
In professional golf, if you feel nervous and stressed, something must be going right. It means you are alive, you are playing for money, you are aware that there are a million eyeballs. If two of them belong to Tiger Woods, well – there is a look that speaks volumes.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.
