Ludvig Aberg could have hardly asked for a better major championship debut, with the Swede finishing as Scottie Scheffler’s closest challenger at the 2024 Masters.
Ludvig Aberg enjoyed the kind of meteoric rise after turning professional in 2023 which made it almost seem unfathomable that he went into the following year having never played in a major.
Of course, Aberg was part of the European team which won the Ryder Cup in Rome. Meanwhile, he had won on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour by the end of 2023.
Nevertheless, his performance at the 2024 Masters was a real statement of intent.
Ludvig Aberg outlines the difference between The Masters and a normal PGA Tour event
Aberg moved into the top 10 after the second round at Augusta National. And with 18 holes to play, the 25-year-old was up to fourth.
In fact, Aberg appeared to be in the mix to potentially win the whole thing until he made an error on the 11th hole and found the water. But he still managed to finish second, three shots clear of those who were tied for third.
With Aberg proving his potential by winning this year’s Genesis Invitational, he is going to be the player several fans expect to see near the top of the leaderboard at this year’s Masters.
And it seems that Aberg will get a real kick from seeing his name up there again. Asked by Golf.com about the differences between The Masters and a regular event, the youngster suggested that he is a huge fan of the traditions.
“I think there’s a lot of differences between Augusta and a normal tournament. One thing is just so simple, but just the scoreboards are different. And people are not on their phones, they’re a lot more engaged,” he said.
“Obviously, we look at the scoreboards because we don’t have any other way to see the score. I remember coming down the 10th one of the days, and there’s a big cheer because they switched the number of someone making a birdie or something like that. That was the coolest thing.
“No-one’s on their phone, no-one’s updating, it’s just all looking at the scoreboards and you just don’t get that anywhere else. It’s almost like you’re travelling back in time.”
Aberg’s brilliant reaction to his mistake on 11 at the 2024 Masters
With Scottie Scheffler previously winning at Augusta, it really felt like it was Aberg’s week to be the breakout star – even if the golfing world already knew about his talent.
It remains to be seen if he can now win one of the sport’s four biggest prizes. But all of the tools appear to be there, particularly when it comes to his mental game.
It was noticeable with how he reacted to his mistake on 11 12 months ago that Aberg is not going to be phased by the setbacks that every golfer is going to face at numerous stages over a career.
“Yeah, definitely. Obviously we knew that hitting it in the water on 11 wasn’t ideal, but we also just kept playing. That’s what me and my caddie Joe and our team has been trying to work on. Just keep playing no matter what happens. I think we did that very well today, and it just showed that we stuck to what we did, and it ended up being pretty okay anyways,” he said following last year’s final round.
With a big win under his belt already this year, it would definitely not be a surprise if Aberg managed to go one better on his second appearance at The Masters.
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