Golf phenom Ludwig Åberg won his first PGA Tour event on Sunday, taking home the RSM Classic trophy after shooting 29 under for the week. Here’s what you need to know:
Åberg, 24, left Texas Tech in June. Since then he has won a DP World Tour event and contributed to Europe’s Ryder Cup team. Åberg has never participated in a major championship, a rarity for a top-level amateur. But Sunday’s win means he will make his senior championship debut at the Masters. He had one bogey all week (on the 12th hole Sunday) and shot 61 Sunday (after a 61 Saturday) to beat Mackenzie Hughes and Tyler Duncan in St. Simons Island, Ga., in the final full-field event of 2023.
Åberg might just be him.
The 6-foot-3 Swede has an easy energy about him, garnering fans left and right on the PGA Tour. He didn’t seem fazed by the pressure of his early big pro days because he overfished at Texas Tech and didn’t jump at the first opportunity to turn pro. And the swing is so clean it’s fun to watch.
The RSM Classic didn’t have a particularly strong field, but it did have a lot of guys playing desperate golfers, either to keep their PGA Tour cards for 2024 or play into the first two limited field events. The stakes were high and the results low. But Åberg was one of the best in the field from the tee and putting, and he did enough between the irons to claim his 54-hole lead and hold the field on Sunday.
He shot a front-nine 30 with birdies on 10 and 11, but the most impressive was the gall — what PGA Tour rookie has Sunday’s lead — and drives the green on the 408-yard par-4 5th, putting him in danger out of bounds. right? Ludwig Åberg, that’s it. A 25-foot birdie putt on 17 shut the door on any hopes Hughes had of surpassing the PGA Tour rookie of the year.
He leads two shots on Sunday.
Chasing your first PGA Tour title.
And you do this knowing it’s automatically re-tee if you miss it right. pic.twitter.com/6fzbHS6APF
— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) November 19, 2023
There is nothing about the way Åberg has performed over the past six months to suggest he is a flash in the pan. Next year he can easily win again. He can compete well in the majors. He could be the next person to quickly rise to the ranks of golf’s elite.
(Top photo: Alex Slitz/Getty Images)