One of the most scarcely-believable moments in Ryder Cup history came in Rome in 2023 as Europe followed up their near-flawless Friday with three more wins on Saturday morning.
Nothing summed up Europe’s domination over the first three sessions at the 2023 Ryder Cup better than the record victory Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg enjoyed over Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler at Marco Simone.
Aberg was playing in only his second ever match in the event, and many may have expected something of a baptism of fire against two of the biggest heavyweights on the American side. However, no-one could have predicted what would happen next.
Hovland and Aberg ended up sealing a 9&7 victory – the largest in an 18-hole match in Ryder Cup history. The result left Scheffler visibly emotional as both he and Koepka were left out of the afternoon matches.
Viktor Hovland shares what he told Ludvig Aberg as they thrashed Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka at the Ryder Cup
It was a moment which helped confirm that Hovland, at that moment, was potentially the best golfer in the world, while it showed that Aberg is a superstar in the making.
But there was one aspect of the win which left the Norwegian a little disappointed. Speaking on the Life on Tour podcast, Hovland admitted wishing that more of the visitors’ supporters had been able to see it.
“I told Ludvig walking up the 11th fairway, I said, ‘this doesn’t happen very often’, and it’s against a five-time major champion and Scottie who’s won every tournament that he’s basically played. I told him the only thing that sucks is that it’s happening and it’s midnight in the US so they didn’t get to see that ass-whooping,” he said.
“They did make some mistakes early, but we played very solid. We didn’t really give them any room to win holes, except I guess the third hole there. That was kind of a Christmas gift. We made bogey and they chipped up and it rolled back a couple of times and made double, so we got a freebie there. But other than that, we were so solid and they were a little bit rusty and we just two up, three up, four up and we were like, ‘alright, we’re just going to keep going’. That was fun.”
How Hovland and Aberg performed over the rest of the Ryder Cup
It is hard to imagine what that feeling must have been like for those American fans who hoped to wake up to find that Zach Johnson’s side had staged a fightback on Saturday.
Koepka would get some revenge on Aberg in the Sunday singles as USA managed to make the score look a lot more respectable than it should have been.
Hovland and Aberg would lose on Saturday afternoon. However, Hovland beat Collin Morikawa 4&3 in the second match out to help take Europe closer to the winning line.
Sadly for Hovland, he has not managed to kick on after his amazing 2023. And it now appears that he is facing a real fight to qualify automatically for the team in 2025 at Bethpage Black.
But given how good the 27-year-old was in Rome, it is difficult to see any way Luke Donald leaves him out of his lineup later this year.
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