Ludvig Aberg (-12) has claimed the Genesis Invitational after signing a brilliant 66 in the final round, with a late birdie on the 18th hole of the South course at Torrey Pines that nullified all the options of an outstanding Maverick McNealy (-11), who was close to surprising everyone with the lowest round of the tournament, a 64 from another planet.
The young, cheerful, and serene Swede continues confidently on the path of the chosen ones. It seems that in the last fifteen months he has only been trotting, although the facts and figures would rather tell us that he was still galloping. Perhaps that is his charisma: Aberg is always more and does more than it seems. It seemed, for example, that he hadn’t done anything dazzling in 2024, after that breathtaking breakthrough in 2023, the year he turned professional and ended up winning on both major tours and playing a Ryder Cup, which is hard to explain. And it turns out that precisely in 2024 he played the first Major of his career, a Masters at Augusta, no less, and finished second. Yes, second. In addition, he achieved two other second places: one at Pebble Beach (Signature Event, to be precise), and another at the BMW, FedEx Cup playoff.
He had (and has) it all. But there had to be some ‘but’, as if the Scheffler phenomenon could be replicated in anyone daring to stand out above the average. And, after that magical 2023 for the Swede, we found it: he might lack a killer instinct. He’s very good, has an unbeatable swing, hits fairways and greens with ease, but precisely because of all that, he should already have more victories…
Alright. Well, he already has three in just forty tournaments as a professional. And this last one is one that leaves a mark. For the form and the substance. In a great tournament, with the best in the world in contention and under very demanding playing conditions. Let’s see who can now put a ‘but’ on Aberg. The undersigned abandons such an idea or purpose, certainly.
Today, true to his style, he made the difficult look easy, with a six-under-par on the last twelve holes of a course that isn’t meant for such celebrations, although Aberg and McNealy were determined to prove otherwise. It’s true that today more birdies and good scores were seen on the South course, because the wind didn’t blow much and the rough was less wet and a bit more manageable, but the course remained a challenge for anyone not on the right path, unless you were Maverick McNealy, who almost holed two birdies at the start of the round hitting the second shot from the depths of the rough. The Californian continues to grow and grow.
The effort of Scottie Scheffler (-9) was also commendable. And his final third place after signing a 66 should not be considered a failure, not even for this imperial World Number One. Today, since we’re talking about ‘buts’, he might have pushed too hard on the back nine, when he had already done the most difficult, which was to get close to the leaders. Too many missed greens in this stretch, hitting from the fairway, and those two bogeys on holes 11 and 16 took him out of effective contention for the win. Excellent reaction from him after Saturday’s setback, in any case, doing what was expected of him: spicing things up by going ahead of the last groups.
We are slowly approaching the first Major of the year, the Masters, and it’s worth arriving with the lesson well learned: if you are tempted not to include Ludvig Aberg among the favourites, remember his gesture of competitive fury once he holed the winning putt on the 18th at Torrey Pines. The cheerful and composed Aberg is always more than he seems…
