The past three days at Augusta National have been pretty unforgiving. Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy declared the course was “extremely difficult” and “hard” to play because of sandblasts with heavy winds that created havoc. And because of challenging conditions, many veterans like Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, and Jordan Spieth could not make the cut. However, amidst the missed cuts by these pros, Aberg emerged as one of the better players at Augusta National in his debut.
After playing three rounds, the Swede has finished solo fourth at the leaderboard. He is only four strokes behind the field leader Scottie Scheffler and one of the contenders for winning the 2024 Masters. The 24-year-old makes everything all look quite simple on the course but does he feel the same?
At the post-match press conference, Ludvig Aberg appeared to be his usual self: calm and collected. From the looks of it, someone making a debut at Augusta National wouldn’t be expected to be as poised as Aberg. On top of that, winning the Masters also means that Aberg will be tying Tiger Woods’s record. The 48-year-old won the Masters a year after turning pro in 1997. Aberg, as well, may attain the same feat if he goes on to win the green jacket.
With the added pressure, the 24-year-old still looked unfazed. Eventually, he was asked by the reporter what other things stress the pro out because from the looks of it golf does not seem to worry the young golfer. Aberg quickly cleared up the misconception and stated that golf indeed stressed him out and how over the years he has learned to deal with the same, “Golf stresses me out. It does. I think there’s a lot of things that stress me out. I’m just pretty good at managing it, I guess.”
The Swede might be good at managing stress but at the end of the day, he still is human. Like any other person, stress does affect him and when it does Aberg further revealed how he he has his own tells when he is stressed out, “Whenever I get stressed, I get a little bit quick at times. It happens in my golf swing. It happens the way I walk, the way I talk, and all these things. I just try to manage it the best I can and be okay with those things, I guess.”
The 24-year-old has overcome the outcome of stress as he rises through the coveted Masters field. And so far, Aberg has successfully stopped any stress from hindering his play at the 88th Masters. Moving to the final day, Aberg has planned how he may become victorious for his first major win.
In the third round at Augusta National, Ludvig Aberg shot four birdies and only two bogeys, finishing third round for 2 under 70. Although Aberg is not far off from taking the lead, his bogey at Chinese Fir and Firethorn has surely pushed him back. However, for the final day, Aberg will be prepared to face the brutal course.
Like many pros, the Swedish national also has a full proof plan for facing Augusta National in final round. The PGA Tour pro might take the route of going with the flow and focus on doing his best in each and every hole as he explained, “I think you’re never trying to force anything. You’re always trying to put yourself in the right positions and try to make the putts. I think that’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow,” said Aberg.
If the plan works out fine for the Swede, he may go on to win the 88th Masters. The feat in itself will be massive for Aberg’s career and will make him the only Swedish golfer to ever achieve it. Will Ludvig Aberg top the leaderboard in Sunday final? He surely hope he does!
