There was something different about Ludvig Aberg’s second victory on the PGA Tour, with the Swede making a real statement as he triumphed at the Genesis Invitational this past week.
Ludvig Aberg seemed to come almost from nowhere to win at Torrey Pines. Two bogeys early on in the 25-year-old’s final round seemed to put paid to his hopes of winning the Genesis Invitational. But it turned out that he was far from done.
Aberg made six birdies in his final 13 holes to win by one from Maverick McNealy. It was a masterclass in assured ball-striking, particularly on the back nine, as the European made his charge to the top of the leaderboard.
Tiger Woods was full of praise for Aberg. And it would be no surprise to see the victory prove to be the moment where the youngster found another gear.
Peter Finch explains what he finds weird about Ludvig Aberg
It was surprising to not see him win at all in 2024. But you would not have known that Aberg was stood over a putt to secure the biggest victory of his brief career on the 18th hole on Sunday.
With that, Peter Finch has told The Rough Cut Golf Podcast that he almost feels as if he has not been able to take to Aberg as much as he should have done.
“The nerves did not seem to affect him but then when you are mostly made of circuit boards, why would it? I absolutely promise you, my celebration of him holing that putt was more enthusiastic than his. He looked like he had just won a putting competition on the green for a quid. Not one of the signature events,” he said.
“Admittedly it was a bit of a weird tournament as it had been shifted over to Torrey Pines and it was meant to be at Riviera. It felt slightly strange. It was Tiger’s event and everything that has gone on with Tiger losing his Mom a week ago, there were things that made it a strange tournament in many ways. But he is such a weird player as you want to root for him and he’s probably going to be a star of the Ryder Cup again this year but I am finding it hard to get emotionally invested in him, just yet.
“I have just figured it out. I am not quite connecting with him yet because he makes everything look too easy!”
Aberg has already been compared with Rory McIlroy
No-one will have been more excited about the start of the PGA Tour season than Luke Donald, with the European Ryder Cup captain seeing four of his potential options secure victories.
Donald took a big risk by picking Aberg for the 2023 Ryder Cup when he had barely been a professional for a few months. But that gamble paid off handsomely in Rome.
And it turns out that it was not really a risk at all, with Donald previously comparing Aberg with Rory McIlroy.
“You play enough with people to understand when there’s something a little bit different about that player. I certainly saw that I played in the Dunhill with Rory in 2007. And just like, oh my God, this is different,” he said.
“This isn’t like every other person, you know. And Ludvig certainly showed that. And I wanted to see it for myself.”
Aberg has a lot more to prove before he is put alongside McIlroy. But he is certainly heading in the right direction in the early stages of his PGA Tour career.
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