AUGUSTA - Ludvig Aberg’s attempt to win the Masters in his major-championship debut fell short because of a rookie mistake.
From the days of Ben Hogan, the conventional approach to the par-4 11th hole is to play to the right side and avoid the pond in front of the green. Aberg, playing his first Masters, hit his drive down the left side and got too aggressive with his 208-yard approach. It didn’t hold the green and tumbled into the water. It led to a double-bogey and removed victory from the equation.
While Aberg – pronounced OH-berg -- failed to become the first player to win the Masters in his first try since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, he still finished second. He closed with a 3-under 69 on Sunday and finished at 7-under 281, four shots behind winner Scottie Scheffler.
“I’ve been playing that same shot all week where I basically aim just right of the right edge of the green and try to draw it in there,” Aberg said. “I tried to do the same thing today. Started just a little bit too far left and the wind caught it and hit it in the water. It was probably just one of the few swings this week where I really put it in a bad spot where I knew I couldn’t miss left and I missed it left.”
After his double bogey at No. 11, Aberg finished Amen Corner with a par and birdie. He continued to apply pressure with birdies at 13 and 14 but could not make headway as Scheffler refused to commit a big mistake. He was proud of his ability to get refocused and keep grinding.
“It wasn’t ideal to hit it in the water on 11, I think we all know that,” Aberg said. “I felt like me and my team, we’ve focused a lot on just keep playing no matter what happens. Just keep playing, just make sure to keep the ball in front of you, and there’s a lot of holes left to be played. I think me finishing well after those couple holes were pretty encouraging to see.”
The Augusta gallery, sensing the arrival of a new star in their galaxy, extended a warm, lengthy welcome when Aberg putted out on the final hole. He tipped his white Adidas cap to the patrons on the 18th green and walked into the arms of multiple family members on the way to the scoring area.
“You have to stay focused all the time,” he said. “I think once you hole out your last putt on 18, you can kind of breathe a little bit and that’s what I did. Coming up and seeing my family and my girlfriend coming up 18 was really cool.”
Aberg isn’t the typical rookie. Although he had never played in a major championship, he was good enough to be chosen for the 2023 European Ryder Cup team. A couple weeks later he won the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic at Sea Island when he closed with 61-61 to finish 29-under and tie the PGA Tour record for lowest score.
Now he’s already being pegged as the next big thing and one of the favorites for the PGA Championship next month at Valhalla. And for the most part, Aberg is OK with his growing stature in the sport.
“I wouldn’t consider myself the face of golf,” he said. “Absolutely not. I’m OK with all these things that come with it. My main focus is to play good golf and all the media things that come with it is not really up to me. I experience I’ve had this week solidifies that we are doing a lot of good stuff and we are not going to change a whole lot.”
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