It almost seemed inevitable that Ludvig Aberg was going to secure his second PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open as he began his week with an opening round of 63.
Ludvig Aberg had the lead after Wednesday at the Farmers Insurance Open. And of course, the Swede has been tipped for greatness for some time. Both Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are big admirers of Aberg.
Unfortunately, the tournament somewhat unravelled from there for the 25-year-old as he moved across to the South Course at Torrey Pines for the final three days. His lowest score from there was a 74 which came on Saturday.
Aberg would actually hit his 63rd shot on Sunday on the 14th hole as he posted a 79 to fall back into a tie for 42nd. With that, fans would be forgiven for being concerned about how his challenge fell away so dramatically.
Ludvig Aberg praised despite rounds of 74 and 79 at the Farmers Insurance Open
However, perhaps there is reason not to be too worried. The Farmers Insurance Open saw a raft of players withdraw, with flu one of the reasons some did not complete their tournament in San Diego.
And with that, Greg DuCharme has told The First Cut Podcast that Aberg deserves enormous credit for battling through illness. He also suggested that he is confident that there is little reason to read into his higher scores across the week.
“He fell during the third round, yesterday’s round. He battled back, he got off to a really weak start. He was three over through five, and then made birdies at six, seven and nine. And this is when we were just learning that he was feeling under the weather. I think on Thursday night, I said he should win this tournament, he’s the guy here. And then you find out that he’s not feeling well. That’s brutal, I understand how he felt, I can’t believe he even continued to play. But then he made a mistake at number 13, uncharacteristic wedge shot into the bunker. And then I think he four-putted 14, and it basically took the tournament,” he said.
“It’s brutal, and it put him at four under par. Now you’ve got a guy that’s not feeling very well, heading into a really tough day, and he’s five shots off the lead. Harris English really stretched it when he got to nine under with birdieing the last three holes on his third round, so that was difficult for Ludvig.
“And then, today was more of the same. You could see some fatigue, he wasn’t moving the same way. They didn’t show him very often, but some uncharacteristic bogeys. And I’ll say this, he has struggled on Sundays, I think it was six straight tournaments where he shot over par last year in the final round. That was something I was a little concerned about after his opening round here at the North Course when he took the lead, it’s a wait and see game. But when you get into that sickness, you get into these conditions, I think it leaves some excuses for Ludvig, and I’m not too worried about this 79, as disappointing as it is.”
Aberg continues to knock on the door as he looks for that much-needed second PGA Tour win
It does seem important that Aberg gets that second win in the near future. He put himself in the mix on a number of occasions in 2024 after winning The RSM Classic the previous year.
However, this week’s tournament almost feels like another anomaly following the record-breaking scoring at The Sentry earlier this month. The conditions were extremely tough at Torrey Pines, and clearly, Aberg was not at 100 percent.
Hopefully, he will be taking all of the positives from his opening round rather than reflecting too much on what came over the next three days.
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