Ludvig Aberg is the superstar of whom you have probably never heard.
Don’t worry. Chiselled Swedish alphas standing 6ft 3ins tall have a way of being noticed. Think Dolph Lundgren of the fairways, or a present-day Ragnar Lothbrok about to unleash Norse hell on the American Ryder Cup foe in Rome.
At least that is the expectation should Europe captain Luke Donald fall into line with prevailing sentiment and make him one of his six captain’s picks, in which case you will know every inch of golf’s coming man by the month’s end. Donald spent the weekend in Switzerland scouting for wild cards to complete his line-up. Bang on cue Aberg delivered his first professional victory in only his ninth event since graduating from Texas Tech University at the end of May.
Even before the stalking, capture and eventual conquest of overnight leader Matt Fitzpatrick to win the Omega European Masters on Sunday, Aberg was very much a part of the skipper’s thinking. Like Donald, a European pioneer of the species at Northwestern University in Chicago, Aberg is a product of the American collegiate system, reaching the world No 1 amateur ranking. He also emulated Jon Rahm as the only winner of consecutive Ben Hogan Awards, as well as the clean sweep of Jack Nicklaus and Fred Haskins Awards in 2023.
His success in Texas earned Aberg his PGA Tour card as the inaugural winner of the collegiate order of merit. In his seven events on the PGA Tour thus far Aberg has better stats than Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, the world’s highest ranked golfers, in the strokes gained off the tee metric. Aberg’s effortless length coupled with his accuracy are major factors in Donald’s calculations around Marco Simone Golf & Country Club’s narrow fairways.
Interestingly Aberg keeps his own stats, updating his journals in English as well as Swedish after every tournament. His poster boy potential has already been recognised by Adidas, with whom he signed his first clothing deal. Golf’s gain is football’s loss.
As a promising midfielder growing up in the southern town of Eslov, closer to Copenhagen than Stockholm, football was his thing until the age of 13 when golf won the tug of love for his affections.
Ten years on his career arc has placed him at Donald’s door. History beckons since no player has been selected in the Ryder Cup without first contesting a major championship. None of this fazes Aberg, who conforms to the 21st century model of golfers emerging from an amateur factory system that churns out players ready to win immediately on tour.
“It would mean the world obviously. I think as a young golfer growing up in Sweden and in Europe those are the events you want to be a part of and if I ever get the chance to be a part of that I’m going to be over the moon,” Aberg said, modestly.
He started the final day in the Swiss Alps two back of Fitzpatrick and ended it three better than the 2022 US Open champion, a final round 64 too hot for a leaderboard that also included Nicolai Hojgaard, another young Scandinavian with a big future, one that might also take in a trip to Rome.
