As Ludvig Aberg walked the 18th fairway of TPC Sawgrass Saturday night, he scanned a leaderboard and turned to his caddy, Joe Skovron. Up front, a bogey on the last two holes from Cameron Young had mixed things up; suddenly a new name appeared in second place.
“Apparently we’ll be playing Michael tomorrow, which will be fun,” Aberg said of Skovron.
That “Michael” is Michael Thorbjornsen, who starts Sunday’s final round at the Players Championship at 10 under par. That will put him three strokes off the pace of his playing partner, Ludvig Aberg. They will start at 13:40 local time, the last pair of the championship. You don’t have to work hard to find a connection between the two. At 26 (Aberg) and 24 (Thorbjornsen), they are among the Tour’s youngest and brightest stars. They are also among the tallest, most athletic, strongest – and shortest. They both also wear Adidas. But it is a particularly interesting couple for two reasons – their past AND their present.
Let’s start at the beginning: these two go way back.
“We’ve been back a lot in junior golf. We’ve played a lot of college golf together,” Thorbjornsen said after his third round. “I love playing golf with him. He was one of the guys in college I looked up to, even though he’s only a year older than me.”
In 2023, Aberg, who went to Texas Tech, was the first winner in history PGA Tour University. In 2024, Thorbjornsen, who went to Stanford, became the second.
“At one point when we were both in college, it felt like we played every tournament together,” Aberg said.
Now they will add a post-college tour chapter. But they already played a lot after college, because they are practically neighbors. Both Aberg and Thorbjornsen live in this part of north Florida and play TPC Sawgrass regularly, sometimes together – either at this week’s stadium or in the adjacent Dye’s Valley.
“I’m not sure how many people know I live here,” Thorbjornsen said, disputing the idea that he, a New England native, would have a local following. “I still play out of Wellesley, Massachusetts, when they call my name, but I live 15, 20 minutes north of here.”
Aberg, who is from Sweden, was a little more bought into the homeboy narrative.
“In the US, that’s where I live. That’s where I spend all my time when I’m here, when I’m at home. So yeah, I spend a lot of time out at the TPC practicing, just a normal Tuesday when I’m at home.” Mainly, winning on Sunday would be a big deal because it’s the Players Championship. But it meant a little more because it’s home.”
Both players are furious about the event; based on how they’ve played this week, the feeling is mutual.
“Even before I moved here, when I played this event, I absolutely loved it,” Aberg said.
“It’s also nice to play holes 16, 17, 18 – just look at these iconic holes,” Thorbjornsen said. “The whole course is incredible.”
There is a subtext to their choice of residence, which represents a shift in the evolving geography of professional golf. An entire generation of professionals was drawn to Jupiter, Fla., following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods. Other secondary locations have emerged — Scottsdale, Ariz.; Sea Island, Ga.; Dallas, Texas; among others – but Jupiter is in the center. It is interesting, then, that two fine young professionals have settled about five hours down the coast. It is not random. This is where the PGA Tour is based and is home to TPC Sawgrass, whose facilities are fantastic and only getting better. They are also not the first; pros from Vijay Singh to Jim Furyk to Fred Funk to Cameron Smith have called this area home. But it is noticed that in recent years more and more young professionals have gravitated to the area, these two main among them.
“This course here,” said Thorbjornsen, explaining his reason. “Having the PGA Tour headquarters out of the country, too, definitely helps. I know a lot of young guys coming out of college are moving to the area. So, yeah, it’s a pretty good place.”
What about Aberg?
“I just loved it. The first time I was here I played for the Junior Players in 2018, 2017, and I remember from then I said this is a really nice place and I knew the golf was really good,” he said. “I like the little seasonal change, not necessarily 85 degrees year-round like it is in South Florida. Then, of course, I got to know a lot of people here even before I moved. Yeah, in the end, it was a pretty easy decision.”
Regardless of the stakes of the practice rounds or the money matches, there is no way they would have been able to replicate the pressure of Sunday’s final round in front of a sellout crowd. But they’ll at least know their way around the locker room — and around their playing partner.
Aberg has had the most professional success to date. He has played in majors and won Ryder Cups. Thorbjornsen, on the other hand, is looking for his first Tour victory. That would be a good place to start. And the player next to him will know that he is not to be taken lightly.
“He’s a great guy, good player and he’s going to be excited to play tomorrow,” Aberg said. “He’s going to come out hot and I’m going to have to respond and play good golf.”
“>
