Tag: Ludvig Aberg

Scottie Scheffler brought to tears after historic loss alongside Brooks Koepka at 2023 Ryder Cup

It was an emotional and historic loss for the Americans on Saturday morning.

ROME —Playing not far from the Colosseum in Rome, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg could’ve screamed to the faithful fans at the 11th green at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, “Are you not entertained?”

They completed a beatdown for the ages at the 44th Ryder Cup. Hovland of Norway and Aberg of Sweden waxed the American duo of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, 9 and 7. It’s the worst loss in Ryder Cup history in any format.

“I don’t think we could have done a whole lot better,” Hovland said. “It’s nice to kind of speak our own language and we understand each other. Obviously same humour, same culture. (Ludvig’s) a stud. He doesn’t miss a shot, so it’s easy when I’m playing well and he’s playing well and we are just feeding off of each other.”

This was a combination of Euro brilliance and American ineptitude. The world No. 1 and reigning PGA Championship winner started double-bogey-double to fall 3 down after three holes. Then the Euros turned it up a notch, making four birdies in the first 10 holes to build an 8-up lead. They missed only one green and hit every fairway on the front nine. The Americans, by contrast, combined to shoot 7 over. Their misery lasted just 2 hours and 19 minutes and 11 holes at 4:10 a.m. ET. It brought Scheffler to tears afterward.

“Horrible situation for the Americans, quite embarrassing for them,” a World feed announcer said in a funereal tone.

For Team Europe, this was a walk in the park with the added bonus that they may have found a pairing to be reckoned with for the next decade and beyond.

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Ludvig Aberg is set to make a historic debut at the 2023 Ryder Cup

No golfer has done what Ludvig Aberg will at Marco Simone.

Ludvig Aberg admits he didn’t begin to think about playing on the Ryder Cup team until late summer.

In May, he was playing college golf and sweeping the postseason awards, winning the Haskins, Hogan and Nicklaus honors. He earned his card via PGA Tour University and instantly made a name for himself on Tour, especially with his prowess off the tee. Earlier this month, he won the European Masters, the feather in his cap to punch his ticket to Italy.

The 23-year-old Swedish sensation was in college less than five months ago. Come Friday, when he tees off in the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy, he will become the first golfer in history to play in a Ryder Cup before making a start in a major championship.

“For me, all I tried to do was play good golf,” Aberg said. “If someone would have told me a couple months ago that I would be here playing a Ryder Cup, probably wouldn’t believe them. It’s really cool and it’s a dream come true for me to be here, and looking forward to the next couple days.”

Ryder Cup: How to watch, schedule | Practice round photos | Picks

When European captain Luke Donald announced Aberg as one of his six captain’s picks, he mentioned Aberg “has the potential to be one of golf’s superstars.”

2023 Ryder Cup
Team Europe golfer Ludvig Aberg hits his bunker shot on the 11th hole during a practice day for the Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

He became the first player in Tour history to earn a card via PGA Tour University. He went on to have four top-25 finishes in seven starts, including a T-4 at the John Deere Classic.

Donald played with Aberg at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit and was blown away by his game. The captain challenged the youngster to head across the pond to play more. It earned him a berth on the team.

“It’s really cool the way that these last couple of months has panned out for me,” Aberg said. “It’s been quite intense and you know, I’m trying to embrace it. I try to enjoy it. But it’s really cool to be here, yeah.”

Aberg is one of four making their Ryder Cup debuts for Europe, along with Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Sepp Straka.

What’s he expecting on the first tee?

“I wish I never got nervous,” Aberg said. “I think obviously anyone that plays golf, you know, feels the nerves sometimes. So do I, obviously. And I’m going to feel those same things on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week.

“It’s very much an excitement. It’s very much an anticipation of what’s to come and I try to view it as something good. It doesn’t necessarily need to, you know, affect my behavior in a poor way. It’s more of something that, you know, it shows that I care. So I’m looking forward to having those feelings again.”

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5 burning questions heading into the 44th Ryder Cup in Rome

So many questions for both teams to answer in Rome.

The 44th Ryder Cup gets underway Friday morning at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, and there are plenty of questions surrounding both teams.

Rookies litter each roster, and some key stars on each squad are playing less than ideal coming into the week.

But the Ryder Cup is different.

Before the action, we take a look at five burning questions, starting with a player whose selection to represent the United States has been a hotly debated topic across the sport.

Ryan Fox upstages European Ryder Cup team, wins 2023 BMW PGA Championship

Fox birdied eight of his last 13 holes during Sunday’s final round.

Ryan Fox birdied the 18th hole to win the 2023 BMW PGA Championship for his fourth DP World Tour victory, pumping his fist in the air just as the ball was dropping into the cup.

Along the way, he upstaged the European Ryder Cup team.

All 12 members of the squad arrived at Wentworth Club for one last tournament of preparation ahead of the biennial matches against the Americans, and all 12 made the cut, including Tyrrell Hatton, who birdied the 18th to forge a tie atop the leaderboard at 17 under.

But it was Fox who overcame a triple-bogey 7 on the third hole with birdies on eight of his last 13 holes during Sunday’s weather-interrupted final round to post a closing 67 and win his first Rolex Series event by a shot over Hatton and Aaron Rai.

“I played great, pretty much from the third hole on, didn’t miss a shot,” he said after his round. “It was a pretty cool feeling on the last, knowing I had one to win it and actually make it.”

Fox birdied four of the first five holes on the second nine before the weather stalled the action.

“The back nine was crazy. I made birdie from the trees on 15, first hole back after the delay,” he said.

Jon Rahm grabbed solo fourth, two shots back. He had an eagle putt on the 18th hole that would’ve tied him for the lead, but he missed just left to finish 16 under.

Rai also had an eagle putt at the last and while his ball was tracking, it could only catch a bit of the edge of the cup and it lipped out.

Ryder Cup rookie-to-be Ludvig Aberg held the 54-hole lead by a shot after rounds of 68-66-66 but shot a final-round 76, his card featuring two bogeys, two double bogeys and just two birdies.

Defending tournament champion Shane Lowry tied for 18th after shooting a final-round 71 which included a 9 on the par-5 17th hole.

How the European Ryder Cup team did

  • T-2. Tyrrell Hatton, 17 under
  • 4. Jon Rahm, 16 under
  • 5. Viktor Hovland, 15 under
  • 6. Tommy Fleetwood, 14 under
  • T-7. Rory McIlroy, 13 under
  • T-10. Sepp Straka, 12 under
  • T-10. Ludvig Aberg, 12 under
  • T-18 Shane Lowry, 10 under
  • T-18. Matt Fitzpatrick, 10 under
  • T-36. Justin Rose, 5 under
  • T-45. Robert MacIntyre, 4 under
  • T-64. Nicolai Hojgaard, even

European team captain Luke Donald finished 5 under, tied for 36th.

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Ludvig Aberg holds a two-shot lead at BMW PGA Championship, seeks back-to-back wins

Here’s how things stand at the BMW PGA entering the final round.

One thing is starting to become clear: the Ryder Cup in Rome is not going to be Whistling Straits 2.0. The Europeans are rounding into form, and the leaderboard after round three of the BMW PGA Championship reflects just that.

Ludvig Aberg (16 under), one of Europe’s Ryder Cup rookies, has turned in rounds of 68-66-66 around Wentworth Club and leads Ryder Cupper Tommy Fleetwood (5-under 67) and Connor Syme (7-under 65) by two shots.

Aberg has been one of the hottest players on Earth over the last few months, tying for 14th at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, for fourth at the D+D Real Czech Masters and winning the European Masters in his last start.

The Swede got it going early with an eagle at the par-5 fourth and added two more circles on Nos. 7 and 8, making the turn with a 4-under 31. After trading a circle for a square at Nos. 12 and 13, Aberg birdied Nos. 15 and 18 to sign for his second consecutive 6-under 66.

BMW PGA: Full leaderboard

Fleetwood, who last tied for sixth at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, started his day with a bogey at No. 3 but got it back and then some on the next hole, draining a 13-foot eagle effort. He made four more birdies on his day and is in great position to chase down the young Aberg. The Englishman’s last worldwide win came at the 2022 Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Aaron Rai (67), Ryan Fox (66) and Callum Shinkwin (64) are tied for fourth at 13 under, Jon Rahm (66) is alone in seventh at 12 under, while Sepp Straka (69), Marcus Helligkilde (69), Tyrrell Hatton (68) and Nathan Kimsey (67) are tied for eighth at 11 under.

In all, seven members of the European Ryder Cup team are inside the top 20 in Surrey, England.

Final-round coverage of the BMW PGA will be available on Golf Channel from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.

How are the 12 Team Europe Ryder Cuppers faring at the BMW PGA Championship?

One of the major subplots at this week’s BMW PGA Championship is how the Team Europe players are faring.

Earlier this month, U.S. captain Zach Johnson locked in his 12-player roster for the upcoming 2023 Ryder Cup, and European captain Luke Donald followed by doing the same.

After the conclusion of the 2023 Omega European Masters the six automatic qualifiers – three from a world points list and three from a European points list – for Team Europe that are bound for Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy were confirmed. Donald then made his six captain’s picks, including a pair of surprise rookies.

As we’re counting down the days until the biennial event in Italy, one of the major subplots at this week’s BMW PGA Championship in Surrey, England, is how the Team Europe players are faring.

Euro team captain Luke Donald is also competing at Wentworth, as are five of his six vice captains. Vice captain Nicolas Colsaerts is doing the best out of this group, as he’s tied for 38th. Vice captains Thomas Bjorn, Francesco Molinari and Edoard Molinari all missed the cut. Jose Maria Olazabal isn’t playing.

Here’s where the 12 members stand after two days:

Ludvig Aberg, Sebastian Soderberg co-lead 2023 BMW PGA Championship

Ludvig Aberg was playing college golf at Texas Tech just a few months ago.

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There are two weeks to go until the 2023 Ryder Cup and the biennial event in Italy is the major subplot at this week’s BMW PGA Championship in Surrey, England.

All 12 of the European Ryder Cup team members are participating at Wentworth Club but it’s the rookie of the bunch making big waves this week.

Ludvig Aberg, who was playing college golf at Texas Tech just a few months ago, won for the first time on the DP World Tour just 12 days ago.

On Friday, after three birdies over his first eight holes, Aberg hit a speedbump with a double bogey on the ninth hole, but responded on the second nine with five birdies, including three straight to close out his round of 66 to get to 10 under.

Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg is trying to crash the party. He shot the second 64 of the week  – first-round leader Marcus Helligkilde had the other – and is at 10 under after 36 holes. He finished birdie-eagle, hitting his second on the par-5 closing hole to 15 feet and then draining the putt.

Considered the biggest Ryder Cup snub on the Team Europe side, Poland’s Adrian Meronk was 5 under after his first 18 holes and was a co-leader at 9 under for much of the day Friday. He is tied for third alongside Thomas Detry and Masahiro Kawamura.

Billy Horschel, who won this event two years ago, opened with a 75 but shot the round of the week with a 63 – thanks to seven birdies and an eagle – on Friday to zoom up the leaderboard. He’s tied for 16th.

BMW PGA: Full leaderboard | Star-studded pro-am photos

There was a 1 hour, 20-minute delay to Friday’s action due to fog and it was a sprint to finish the second round but they didn’t quite get all the golf in, so the round will resume Saturday morning.

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Rory McIlroy gushes over European Ryder Cup rookie teammate’s impressive talent

“I was on the bandwagon before. Certainly at the front of it now.”

The Ludvig Aberg hype train left the station a few months ago and golf fans have slowly been climbing on as the 23-year-old has continued to excel throughout the early stage of his career.

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy has been riding the train for a while now, but he might be the conductor after getting to know Europe’s rising star in Italy on a team scouting trip ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup later this month.

“It was amazing. I’m sort of surprised it’s the first time we’d ever really done it,” said McIlroy during his pre-tournament press conference for the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England. “Yeah, there’s a few new faces on the team and I thought it was a great exercise in terms of getting to know one another a little bit better. I had an opportunity to play with Ludvig for the first time on Monday, which I was excited about. I told him, ‘I said I’ve been looking forward to this for a while.’”

MORE: Meet the 2023 European Ryder Cup team

Four months ago Aberg was competing for Texas Tech at the NCAA Championship. Fast forward to today and he’s a winner on the European-based tour and being complimented profusely by one of the best players of a generation. Life comes at you fast when you’re playing good golf.

“Everyone talks about what a great driver of the golf ball he is and. … which he is. The ball-striking is incredible,” McIlroy said of Aberg while noting he even exceeded his already high expectations. “But I was really impressed with his wedge play and how he can sort of control his trajectory with shorter clubs. I was on the bandwagon before. Certainly at the front of it now.”

Later in the day Aberg told reporters that he and Viktor Hovland played a best-ball match against McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood on Monday and that he and Hovland won on the 16th hole, “which was fun.”

While the level of praise may be new, McIlroy going to bat for younger plays is anything but. Almost a year ago to the day he had this to say about how Team Europe was in need of a rebuild:

“I think the European Team has a core of six or seven guys that I think we all know are pretty much going to be on that team, and then it’s up to some of the younger guys to maybe step up.”

“But I think we were in need of a rebuild, anyway. It was sort of, we did well with the same guys for a very long time but again as I just said, everything comes to an end at some point. I think Whistling Straits is a good sort of demarcation, I guess.

“That’s all behind us. We have got a core group of guys but let’s build on that again, and instead of filling those three or four spots with older veterans, let’s blood some rookies and let’s get them in and build towards the future. I think that’s important.”

Luke Donald and his staff of vice captains agreed as the Europeans will bring four rookies to Rome – Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka, Nicolai Hojgaard and Aberg – three of which were captain’s picks.

“It’s a transitional time for the European Ryder Cup team,” said McIlroy, doubling down on his comments from a year prior. “There’s guys that have been amazing Ryder Cuppers for two decades, basically, and you know, unfortunately things move on and you need to try to bring in some fresh talent. We certainly have that this year in terms of someone like Sepp who came on the scene the last couple years and has played some great golf.”

“I felt like the 12 of us are on the same level, there’s no type of hierarchy on the team,” he added. “Just making the new guys as comfortable as possible. To me, that’s a really cool thing about the last couple days.”

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European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald on picking ‘cool cucumber’ Ludvig Aberg, a 23-year-old rookie

Donald said two of his rookies are the future of European golf as he explained his captain’s picks.

It’s been a big two days for Ludvig Aberg.

On Sunday, the 23-year-old rising star from Sweden earned his first professional victory on the DP World Tour at the 2023 Omega European Masters. A few hours later Monday morning he was selected as one of Luke Donald’s six captain’s picks for the upcoming 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.

“He is the latest winner on the DP World Tour and showed yesterday (in Switzerland) that he has the potential to be one of golf’s superstars,” said Donald as he announced the pick.

Aberg won the 2023 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans Montana, Switzerland, in just his sixth professional start on the European-based circuit. The former No. 1 amateur and four-year star at Texas Tech became the first player in history to earn PGA Tour membership via PGA Tour University earlier this season and made his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open. This season on Tour, the former star at Texas Tech has four top-25 finishes in seven starts, including a T-4 at the John Deere Classic.

“If you would have told me a couple of months ago that I was gonna be in these conversations I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” said Aberg. “Obviously super, super fortunate to be in this position and I can’t thank the captain and the vice-captains enough.”

“It’s been quite a lot these last couple of months but it’s been so exciting and I can’t wait for Rome.”

“I really do have a lot of faith and belief in Ludvig. I think he’s a generational player. He’s gonna be around a long time and he’s gonna do amazing things,” Donald added. “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.”

“He proved to us on Sunday with his grit and determination, he’s such a cool cucumber, too,” Donald continued. “He just goes about his business so easily and doesn’t take much time. He has a great way about him.”

Donald played with Aberg in Detroit earlier this summer at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic and “was blown away by his game.” As the young Swede continued to progress, Donald challenged him to go to Europe and play a few weeks.

More: Meet the 12 players and captains representing Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy

“He showed his mettle by committing to come over here the last two weeks,” Donald said. “If he didn’t perform very well then it would have been a different story, but he did. He performed when he needed to.”

The hype around Aberg and the Ryder Cup started with his early success on Tour and blossomed with the Rocket Mortgage pairing. Donald and Co. may have foreshadowed his selection last week when Aberg was paired with European vice captains Nicolas Colsaerts and Edoardo Molinari for the first two rounds at the European Masters.

Aberg will be one of four debutants for Donald’s side in Italy alongside Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Sepp Straka.

“I think it’s fine to have rookies in a Ryder Cup. My first one in 2004, you always want that chance to shine. I think 2004 we had five rookies and you know how that result ended,” said Donald, referring to Europe’s 18½-9½ shellacking of the Americans at Oakland Hills in Michigan. “There’s nothing wrong in having these young fresh guys going in there to battle. They are a strong pedigree of golfers, (Aberg), Nicolai, these are the future of European golf.”

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Meet the 12 players and captains representing Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy

Get to know the 12 players on Team Europe for the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Last week U.S. captain Zach Johnson locked in his 12-player roster for the upcoming 2023 Ryder Cup, and on Monday morning European captain Luke Donald did the same.

After the conclusion of the 2023 Omega European Masters the six automatic qualifiers – three from a world points list and three from a European points list – for Team Europe that are bound for Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy were confirmed. Donald then made his six captain’s picks, including a pair of surprise rookies.

Of the 12 players on the roster, four will make their debut in the biennial event against the Americans, who haven’t won on foreign soil since 1993.

Get to know all 12 players and the captains who will represent Team Europe in the 44th playing of the Ryder Cup.