Ludvig Aberg has never been to Canada before this week. He doesn’t know much about the country. But one thing he does know?
“Hockey. Lots of Swedes playing hockey here.”
Aberg, a 23-year-old from Eslov, Sweden, is making his professional debut this week at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Ontario, at the RBC Canadian Open. It’s not his PGA Tour debut, as he has played twice this year, including a T-24 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he made history last week when his college career ended at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Aberg became the first player in the Tour’s history to earn PGA Tour membership via PGA Tour University.
“I’m super fortunate to be in this position, to actually get my Tour card,” Aberg said. “I’m just going to be prepared to play a lot of golf. Play as much as I can, get as many points as I can and kind of see where that takes me.”
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He will play alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton, teeing off at 7:44 a.m. ET on Thursday in featured group coverage.
Last year, Aberg has the opportunity to turn pro but passed it up. He decided to be patient and return to Texas Tech for his senior year. It paid off.
“One of the things that I didn’t really know was how the PGA Tour University program was going to develop,” Aberg said. “Obviously now looking back at it I was, I definitely made the right call. And, honestly, to be fair, I didn’t think I was good enough at that point, too. There was a few things that I wanted to still develop and get better at and improve on. I feel like I’ve done that. So I’m super fortunate to be here at this stage of my career, too.”
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And get better Aberg did. He won the Haskins Award as the men’s collegiate player of the year. He became the first golfer in Big 12 Conference history to win consecutive individual conference titles, then he won the NCAA Norman Regional before a T-29 finish at NCAAs. He won four times this spring and heads into the latter half of the Tour season in great shape.
“The last couple of weeks has been pretty intense,” Aberg said, “but it’s something I’ve been preparing for for a long time and now it’s actually happening. So I’m super happy about that. I think as a competitor, you really look forward to playing those big events.”
Deciding to stay in school paved the path for Aberg to play in those big events right off the bat. And the program is something Aberg thinks will benefit the college game.
“I’m just fortunate to be kind of the first guy to take advantage of it, but I think it’s going to get better,” Aberg said. “I think more guys are going to be able to take advantage of it. I think it’s going to make college golf better. I think the incentive to stay in school, finish your degree and then all the opportunities that you can take advantage of. If someone told me two or three years ago that I would have status right out of college, I would be over the moon.”
Another talented college star made her professional debut last week. Rose Zhang, who won the individual NCAA title again and the ANNIKA Award for women’s player of the year for the second straight season, won the Mizuho Americas Open in a playoff.
Aberg watched Zhang’s success and hopes he’s able to find some of his own just as quickly.
“Rose is unbelievable,” Aberg said. “She’s an unbelievable player, unbelievable person and what she’s done is pretty amazing. If I can do something along those lines, I think I’m doing pretty well.”