Ludvig Aberg seems to have continued his love-hate relationship with Torrey Pines this week despite the Swede going into the weekend tied for fifth at the Genesis Invitational.
Of course, it was Ludvig Aberg who set the standard after the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines earlier this season as he posted a 63. Unfortunately, illness put paid to his hopes of winning the event with Aberg even vomiting out on the course.
And it appeared that his tough times at Torrey would continue as Aberg posted a 74 in the opening round – though that was far from being anywhere near the worst score of the day in the tough conditions in California.
The 25-year-old would respond in brilliant fashion on Friday, with his 66 the joint lowest round of the day. It has left Aberg in the top five and just four shots off the lead at the halfway stage.
One part of Ludvig Aberg’s game labelled ‘bizarre’ at the Genesis Invitational
However, it appears that one aspect of Aberg’s game is not looking elite at this stage. The youngster lost nearly 1.7 shots to the field on the greens during the first round. And speaking on The First Cut podcast, Patrick McDonald and Rick Gehman suggested that they are a little concerned by how wasteful Aberg can be from close range.
“Iron play was way better today; way, way better today compared to Thursday. I think people will look at his around the green numbers and even, you look at his event average for the week, he’s outside the top-half in approach play and putting. I’m curious about that putter, Rick. I don’t know if you are, but it has piqued my interest just because it seems like he kind of misses a lot from that six foot range,” McDonald said.
“He does. He also, for the first time that I can remember, he hit some putts this week that I was like, ‘what the hell was that? That was ugly’. He’s very good from 10 to 20 feet,” Gehman replied.
“It’s a little bit bizarre, but despite that, he is right there.”
How Aberg has performed on the greens on the PGA Tour
Aberg is so impressive tee to green, whereas he perhaps needs his putting to be somewhere near its best if he is going to realise the frightening potential he possesses.
The 2023 European Ryder Cup star was 67th for strokes gained on the greens on the PGA Tour in 2024.
He was actually as high as 15th in the same category during the second round of the Genesis Invitational. However, it will be a concern that he is not taking more of the opportunities he has created.
Scottie Scheffler‘s game last year shows that you do not necessarily need to be the best putter to completely dominate. But Aberg is not quite at the level just yet where he can seemingly rely on all other aspects of his game to see him through.
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