26 things you need to know about Ludvig Aberg

Everybody in golf is talking about Ludvig Aberg – and little wonder!

The Swedish sensation appears to have the world at his feet after a meteoric rise to prominence.

He’s gone from university student to DP World Tour winner and Ryder Cup star in a matter of weeks… and the best is clearly yet to come.

Here’s everything you need to know about golf’s latest legitimate phenom…

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1. His surname is pronounced “Oh-berr” not “Ay-berg”, as his fellow Swede Alex Noren explained on an episode of The bunkered Podcast this summer. “The ending has a soft G,” said the 2018 Ryder Cupper.

2. His surname is pronounced “Oh-berr” not “Ay-berg”, as his fellow Swede Alex Noren explained on an episode of The bunkered Podcast this summer. “The ending has a soft G,” said the 2018 Ryder Cupper.

3. He was introduced to golf at the age of eight by his father, Johan, who would bribe him with the promise of ice cream to make him practise. “I never pushed him or wanted him to become a professional,” said Johan earlier this year. “I just wanted to have him out here playing with me because it’s quality time.”

4. Until golf took over, Aberg’s first love was football and he dreamed of playing in midfield for Liverpool FC. “I just feel like you have such control, and I guess it kind of reflects to the golf game a little bit, that you want control,” he explained.

5. He made his DP World Tour debut in the 2018 Nordea Masters at Hills Golf & Sports Club in Gothenburg. He opened with a 67 and finished in a tie for 34th.

6. The Swede successfully defended his Big 12 title in 2023 and became only the second player after Jon Rahm to win back-to-back Ben Hogan Awards.

7. As a junior, he won the Swedish Teen Tour Order of Merit in 2016 and, the following year, made his international debut, winning the individual honours at the 2017 European Boys’ Team Championship in Spain.

8. Aberg enrolled at Texas Tech in the autumn of 2019, where he won the Sun Bowl Marathon All-America Golf Classic in his first year. He was also part of the Swedish side that won the 2019 European Amateur Team Championship on home soil at Ljunghusen Golf Club.

9. When the pandemic shut down US college golf in 2020, he returned to Sweden and spent six months playing on the Nordic Golf League. He won twice in that time.

10. He made his PGA Tour debut in 2021 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. He opened with back-to-back rounds of 68 to be T10 through 36 holes. He ultimately finished in a tie for 51st.

11. During his time at Texas Tech, he combined playing golf with studying economics. He became particularly obsessive over his Strokes Gained stats and, after each event, wrote down his numbers and thoughts in a journal. He kept two versions: one written in English and another in Swedish to share with his coaches back home and in the US.

12. In the spring of 2022, whilst still an amateur, he reportedly turned down a $2.5million, two-year contract from LIV Golf.

13. Six-time DP World Tour winner Peter Hanson caddied for him in the 2022 Amateur Championship. He led the strokeplay qualifying after day one and made it as far as the quarter-finals at Royal Lytham & St Annes before losing to England’s Sam Bairstow.

14. In April 2022, having finished in a tie for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational weeks earlier, Aberg won the individual title at the Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship and, the following month, received the Ben Hogan Award, given to the best college player in the United States.

15. He reached No.1 on the men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking later in 2022.

16. He doesn’t have a Twitter account and rarely uses Instagram. At the time of writing, he has posted only 15 times on the platform this year.

17. He made nine starts on the PGA Tour in the 2022/23 season and was the only player to average at least 315 yards off the tee while hitting at least 60% of his fairways. His longest drive so far on tour is 376 yards.

18. He is the first player ever to play in the Ryder Cup without having played in a major championship. He is also only the second player, after Sergio Garcia in 1999, to make a Ryder Cup team in the same year he turned professional.

19. He made his professional debut in June at the RBC Canadian Open, finishing in a tie for 25th on seven-under-par.

20. After a dominant final year in college, where he had nine top-10s in nine starts, Aberg became the first player to earn a PGA Tour card through college, finishing No.1 on the 2023 PGA Tour University Ranking.

21. Just 75 days after turning professional, he won his first pro title in the 2023 Omega European Masters in Switzerland. He birdied four of his last five holes to earn €425,000 and earn a wild card for the 2023 European Ryder Cup team.

22. His favourite unhealthy treat? Chick-Fil-A.

23. Between his professional debut at the Canadian Open and the conclusion of the PGA Tour season at the end of August, he led the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee, ahead of Rory McIlroy in second and Scottie Scheffler in third.

24. At the time of writing, he’s 53rd on the Official World Golf Ranking but Data Golf, which combines performances at the top end of the amateur game with those on the professional scene, reckons he’s actually the 21st best golfer on the planet.

25. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald reckons Aberg is primed to be golf’s ‘Next Big Thing’. “He is a generational player,” said the Englishman. “He’s going to be around a long time and he’s going to do amazing things.” Justin Rose reckons he’s “an absolute stud.”

26. His college coach Greg Sands thinks he’s the complete package. “Everybody falls in love with the physical side of things, how efficient he is and all those things visually you get to see up close,” he said. “To me, it’s his ability to compartmentalise a moment. He keeps things simple. He doesn’t let distractions get him off.”