Earlier this summer, Ludvig Aberg was a college golfer representing Texas Tech. Now, just five months on the Swede is one of professional golf's hottest properties after breaking into the top 50 in the world.
During his college days Aberg was already making himself known, becoming the world's No. 1 amateur, as well as topping the 2023 PGA Tour University rankings following the end of the NCAA Championship in May. After making the decision to turn pro in June though, not even the Swede himself could have predicted what would come next.
The 22-year-old's pro career began impressively, as Aberg landed three top-25 finishes in his first four starts, including a tie for fourth at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in July.
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Despite his Swedish descent, knowledge of Aberg's rise on the European side of the Atlantic was relatively small compared to the eyes he was catching in the United States. One man who was left impressed was Team Europe Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald, who had played alongside the youngster at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Aberg's audition in front of the Team Europe captain was an important one, as it seemingly added his name to the Ryder Cup selection conversation. To many calling Aberg into the team this time around proved a tad too early. There is no doubt he would be part of Ryder Cup setups in years to come, but a call-up just three months into his pro career appeared to be somewhat premature.
In a bid to make the Team Europe roster, Donald informed Aberg that he needed to head back to Europe and over to the DP World Tour to stake his claim, and he did just that. After a top-five finish at the Czech Masters, Aberg proved exactly why he was apart of Donald's plans after winning the Omega European Masters in just his ninth start as a pro in September.
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And the victory could not have been timed better, coming just 24 hours before Donald revealed his six captain's picks. There is no doubt the captain had already made his mind up on his selections, and Aberg's win only cemented this, and further proved his doubters wrong.
"I really do have a lot of faith and belief in Ludvig," Donald said after picking him. "He is a generational player, he's going to be around a long time and he's going to do amazing things.
"If he wasn't going to play this one he was going to play the next eight Ryder Cups, that's how good I think he is."
After earning a dream call-up, the next step was of course competing at the matchplay tournament, which often proves a tough task for some of the world's best. In typical Aberg fashion though he was like a duck to water on the Ryder Cup stage, with his highlight a record-breaking 9&7 victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka alongside Viktor Hovland on the way to a European win.
With a DP World Tour victory and a Ryder Cup crown in the bank, it appeared Aberg's whirlwind first few months as a pro golfer were complete, with the season starting to wind down. The Swede however was not done there, after he became a PGA Tour winner on just his 11th attempt.
The former college star had turned his attention to the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Fall circuit in a bid to improve his playing rights for 2024, and he did exactly that, and in record-breaking fashion too. Aberg prevailed at the RSM Classic on Sunday, winning the event by four shorts in a faultless performance that would not have looked out of place on a prime Tiger Woods highlight reel.
The Swede broke record after record on his way to victory, tying the lowest 72-hole and 36-hole score in PGA Tour history, as well as carding a record low across 54 holes. There was an added prize for Aberg too, with the Tour rookie set to earn a maiden start at next year's Masters after making his way into the world's top 50 less than a year after sitting outside the top 3,000.
The win earned the plaudits of his Ryder Cup captain Donald, who was no doubt happy to once again see his selection choice backed up by the Swede. "Anyone paying attention knew the unlimited potential of Ludvig," Donald tweeted. "He showed that at Crans and now again dominating in Sea Island this week. Congratulations to you, Jack and your whole team, the sky is the limit."
So, in the space of five months, Aberg turned pro, made his PGA Tour debut, ventured over to Europe, won on the DP World Tour, was called up to Team Europe, won the Ryder Cup and prevailed on the PGA Tour. The rise has been a meteoric one and there is no sign of it stopping heading into 2024.
