Two years and a day ago, on 3 March 2023, a young amateur, cheerful and lanky Nordic player was walking down the 8th hole at Bay Hill when he first saw his name on the leaderboard of a major PGA Tour tournament, even though he had just made a bogey on the 7th hole. He had started his round that day on the 10th hole and still had to finish the tough task. “Yes, I was walking down the 8th hole and for the first time saw my name on this great old-school leaderboard. It was really cool. But I still had the 8th and 9th to play, so I couldn’t lose focus because they were probably the two toughest holes on the course today. I still had to hit some good golf shots and, luckily, I did.”
It’s true: at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill, you can still see those imposing old-school leaderboards, Augusta National style, literally operated by hand, and Ludvig Aberg got goosebumps when he saw himself on one of them, as he explained right after finishing that second round of the 2023 Arnold Palmer.
This week he arrives at the same event as Number 1 in the Fedex Cup, Number 4 in the world, and the top favourite to win, with the permission of Scottie Scheffler and a few others. Back then, on 3 March 2023, he was ‘just’ a distinguished amateur making the most of the invitation he had received to play the tournament, as he not only comfortably made the cut but also finished those first 36 holes with a total of -4, in ninth position, against the best players in the world. No wonder he saw himself on that old leaderboard.
It was the first cut he made in a PGA Tour tournament, although he had only played one other before, the Valero Texas Open in 2022, where he couldn’t make it to the weekend. However, that wasn’t exactly his first significant experience. At the Dubai Desert Classic, old leaderboards are no longer used, it’s true, but a few weeks before that experience at Bay Hill, the Swede led the tournament in the emirate (January 2023) after the first round, in which he scored a 65. By the way, he did it playing alongside Edoardo Molinari, who had been closely following him.
There, at that 2023 Dubai Desert Classic, was also Luke Donald, who would receive the pertinent and revealing report from his vice-captain, although he undoubtedly could have seen something himself, as he had settled into the group immediately behind the Swede. More pressure couldn’t be put on a young lad. And he certainly responded.
Donald was also at that 2023 Arnold Palmer, a few weeks later, where Aberg would finish in 24th place. There he had more than one conversation with Ludvig, and it’s more than likely that there, at Bay Hill, he confirmed that this young man needed to be given a place in the team.
That Friday, 3 March 2023, Aberg was playing at Bay Hill alongside Adrian Meronk, then an emerging star on the European circuit, and Eric Cole, who had finished second at the Honda Classic the previous week, after losing a playoff to Chris Kirk. The Pole handed in a card of 81 strokes and the American another of 80… No, things weren’t easy that day at Mr Palmer’s place, with wind gusts around forty kilometres per hour and firm, fast greens. In fact, the Swede’s final score of 70 strokes that day was the eleventh best.
It’s quite curious: in the opinion of many golf professionals and analysts, Meronk deserved one of the captain’s six picks to play in the Ryder Cup in Rome that year. He hadn’t made the team on his own, but he was high in the rankings, certainly much better placed than a certain Ludvig Aberg… But the Swede, as mentioned, needed to be given a place, even if it was by force. Only two years have passed, but Donald’s determination (and Edoardo Molinari’s) has been sufficiently backed by the facts.
