Ludvig Aberg laughed his nosebleed.
NBC Sports
Sweden is not exactly a flat country, the highest peak in the entire country is only 7,000 feet. So it’s safe to say, the hottest name in Swedish golf right now, Ludvig Abergprobably not dealt with the effects of prolonged altitude exposure very often at home
With this week BMW Championship host, Castle Pines, sitting at an average elevation of 6,200 feet in the Colorado Rockies, it seems Aberg is clearly seeing the effects of altitude on the human body, and it hit him at an inopportune time Saturday.
But the 24-year-old phenom handled it like a seasoned vet.
Aberg started BMW’s third round four shots off the lead over Adam Scott after matching the 2013 Masters winner, 20 years his senior, with a Friday 63. He was close to the par-5 first in two , but left his third shot short, leaving him a 53-footer on the second easiest hole at Castle Pines.
But as Aberg went through his routine on the putt, he must have felt something coming out of his nose. He was standing over the ball, ready to get into position.
You know the feeling. You think it might just be a little scratch from your nose, but you never know for sure unless you touch your nose to see what you get. Given the dry mountain air in Colorado, there is a much higher chance it could be a nosebleed.
Casually, almost as if it were part of his routine, Aberg touched her nose. It turned slightly red.
“Welcome to Colorado,” NBC analyst Smylie Kaufman said. “This altitude, the dry air.”
Aberg turned away from the shot, smiled and began to laugh. It was one of those moments where the timing was so comically perfect, you couldn’t help but laugh.
Then Aberg took the towel from caddy Joe Skovron and, in an entirely independent moment, began to wipe away the blood with the soiled end of the towel.
1 strange ‘law’ tells the story of Ludvig Aberg’s wild rookie year
James Colgan
You know, the side of the towel you use to clean dirt off golf clubs. Not the clean white bottom you use for sweats.
Apparently, the towels aren’t enough for Aberg, who has seen a rocket-like rise to superstardom in the world of golf, now the fourth-ranked player in the world in his first full PGA Tour season. But, he chose to keep that white skirt anyway, for whatever reason. Maybe it was just to look tough.
Aberg was laughing his head off all episode with good glee, but he had more reason to laugh after hitting the putt.
His ball hit the flagstick before dropping for an eventful birdie 4.
At first he stood stoic and calmly waved to the crowd, but he couldn’t hide his smile for long and started laughing again.
He eventually got a piece of tissue to stuff his nose to stop the bleeding. But someone needs to get him and Skovron a new towel for Round 4.
His day would be a mirror image of the first hole as he made two more birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to take the sole lead at 12 under after Scott played the first three holes in three behind him. He fell back to eight under with two bogeys and a double, but got back to 10 under thanks to an eagle on the 14th.
That gave him two shots off Keegan Bradley going into the final round.
