Analyst explains why he’s ‘worried’ about Ludvig Aberg heading into the first PGA Tour event of 2025 at The Sentry

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Ludvig Aberg is certainly going to be one of the names to look out for during the opening PGA Tour event of the season at The Sentry, with the Swede the third highest ranked player in the field in Kapalua.

With Scottie Scheffler set to miss out through injury, The Sentry is going to provide a fantastic opportunity for a number of top players to get some momentum going as they look to stop the world number one replicating his 2024 season.

And it is an impressive field, with Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg amongst those see to tee it up in Maui. And Aberg is perhaps one of those with something of a point to prove after not managing to win in 2024.

While his current wait for a win is not as long as Morikawa’s, Aberg has the talent to compete with the best. So he may be a little frustrated that he did not convert one of his three runner-up finishes in 2024 into a second PGA Tour win.

Why Ludvig Aberg may struggle to stand out at The Sentry

But perhaps a win in the coming days may come as a surprise. Speaking on his RickRunGood YouTube channel ahead of The Sentry, Rick Gehman suggested that Aberg almost suffers because of how little advantage is to be gained off the tees when the ball often collects in a similar position ahead of each player’s approach.

“When I ran that model of long iron play and short iron play, Ludvig Aberg popped up. What I don’t like about Ludvig is that his best weapon, the driver, does get negated a little bit here at the Plantation Course. Everybody plays from the same spot, so if you’re a little bit off, you can lose strokes in a big way, if you don’t get the same roll-out,” he said.

“Some of the guys are literally hitting 400 yard drives. If you don’t crest the correct ridge and you’re 280, the stats don’t add up very well, they can go south very quickly. And that’s kind of what happened last year, finished T47, lost strokes in every single category. I’m not worried about him doing that again, but I am worried about his best weapon being negated a little bit. And still the fact that he’s lost strokes putting in six of his seven, that is enough of a concern for me.”

The bizarre driving numbers from the 2024 Sentry

The Sentry definitely throws up some interesting numbers. Nine of the top 10 drives on the PGA Tour in 2024 came at The Sentry, with Max Homa hitting a 477 yard drive last year.

When you consider that Andrew Putnam was 183rd for driving distance across the season, it is truly remarkable that he ended up hitting the ninth longest drive of the entire year at this event 12 months ago.

So clearly, a player who is particularly strong off the tee will struggle to stand out. But Aberg was also 21st for strokes gained with his approach play in 2024, so his driving is far from the only string to his bow.

Had Scheffler been playing, it would have been a real statement had anyone else managed to win the curtain-raiser for the year. But given quality of the players set to be involved, it will still be very impressive for someone like Aberg to come out on top – particularly as it may not be the course which sees him really stand out.