LA JOLLA, Calif. — So, it’s the biggest moment of your life thus far. Thousands of people surround you as you go for the biggest win of your career. Two years ago, you were in college courses, studying between tournaments. Now, you’re tied for the lead on the 18th hole with a chance, 224 yards from the pin, with water sitting in front of the hole, ready to ruin your day. Everybody in the golf world is watching to see if you can live up to what you’re supposed to be.
How long do you take?
Do you think about it? Do you take an extra few breaths? Do you make sure you have this before committing full tilt?
Or are you Ludvig Åberg, the tall, handsome and comically nonchalant Swede who steps up to the ball and doesn’t even let a beat pass before launching into the smoothest swing the game has seen in some time? There are no pauses for Åberg. There are no hesitations. He just goes. So, he arrived on tour and finished T4 immediately. He won two tournaments in his first four professional months. He played on a winning European Ryder Cup team before he set foot in a major. He became a week-in, week-out top-10 golfer before many fans even knew his name.
“You’re not gonna slow down on purpose, right?” his caddie, Joe Skovron, said, grinning. “Just stay in the rhythm, as long as we go through our stuff, and he’s ready to go. …
“Just let him go.”
Åberg didn’t slow down. He went up to the birdie putt to win the Genesis Invitational, didn’t take so much as a moment and hit it in for $4 million and official validation as the best young player in the world. He overcame a three-shot deficit over six holes to steal a signature win.
Then, he finally showed something to let us know he’s not all chillness and cool vibes. He let out a shouting fist pump and slapped Skovron’s hand. He took in the moment before turning around and taking off his hat to wave it at the San Diego crowd that embraced him as its newest champion.
Ludvig Åberg is congratulated by his caddie, Joe Skovron, after winning the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines. (Denis Poroy / Imagn Images)
If he hadn’t arrived already, Åberg had officially announced himself.
If only the vomit hadn’t arrived. Åberg was supposed to win here three weeks ago. When he shot an opening-round 63 at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, it was his to lose. He maintained it as he fought through devilishly tough weather in Round 2 to keep the lead.
But then he awoke in the night, puking his guts out. Still, he tried to play. It followed Åberg the next two days; he was visibly weak and battling to stay upright. He lost 8 pounds in two days and understandably went 74-79 to fall to 42nd. Then, he thought he was better. He went to Pebble Beach and seemed OK. That was until the fever and chills arrived. It got so bad that he had to withdraw from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and skipped Phoenix to recover back home in Ponte Vedra.
He’s been eating everything in sight, trying to gain that weight back, scarfing anything he can find. He still has a pound or two to go. What was he eating?
“Well, the funny thing is I had chicken the night that I started throwing up,” Åberg joked Friday. “So chicken was sort of tough to eat at first, so I was eating a lot of beef, a lot of steaks, a lot of fish. Getting there.”
But he got another chance. Due to the horrific fires in the Pacific Palisades, the Genesis Invitational had to move from its annual host site at Riviera Country Club. It settled on returning to Torrey Pines since it was close and the PGA Tour knows it can host events. Åberg was anxious to return. He’s more competitive than he lets on, and he wanted redemption.
He also wanted more wins. It’s a silly critique, considering Åberg is so consistently productive that he ranked No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking despite just one fall schedule PGA Tour win. He had 15 top-20s in his first full pro season. He finished second at the Masters in his first major start. He’s been incredible. But sure, he put it in the water on 11 at Augusta to let Scottie Scheffler run away with the Masters. He faded at the U.S. Open with mindless errors and gave away a Sunday lead at the Scottish Open. Nobody was concerned, but the lack of Sunday finishes was there. Fifteen months between wins is nothing for most, but Åberg has different expectations.
“It felt like a lifetime,” he said Sunday.
So when he sent his drive out of bounds early Sunday to set up an ugly run of bogey-bogey and a par-5 par on 4-5-6, maybe a narrative could have formed. Another Sunday decline for the prodigy. But he still felt good about the swing. He felt in control.
“He just keeps going, you know?” said Skovron, the veteran who caddied for Rickie Fowler for 13 years and has seen it all. “He just keeps playing. Keeps doing his thing. You guys see it. He doesn’t get rattled by much.”
For all of Åberg’s burgeoning superpowers, maybe the most relevant to follow is the development of a leaderboard anchor. Nobody causes fear in the lurk like Scheffler, but Åberg has become the type of player who’s always hanging near the top, ready to go on a run at any moment. He doesn’t fall far. He goes with the flow. And he can outlast most of the field over 72 holes with his lengthy drives and dialed iron play.
So, at 6 under par, he birdied 7. And he birdied 9. And when he saved par from a tough bunker on 12, he remained three behind red-hot leader Maverick McNealy with six holes to go. “All I tried to do once I saw that he posted 11 was just to get to 12, really,” he said. Imagine having the confidence to think that way at Torrey Pines South.
He easily birdied the par-5 13th to get to 9 under. On 14, he had a pitching wedge number, but it’s a tricky hole few players birdied Sunday. He went with a “dangerous” flighted 9-iron shot to keep the spin down and stuck it to 5 feet for another birdie. “A couple years ago, I couldn’t do that,” he said. That’s 10 under.
Then came the 25-foot birdie on 15, and at that moment he officially became the crowd favorite. Grown men high-fived after the difficult make. Jersey-wearing bros shoved one another in amazement or excitement. At his best, Åberg feels inevitable, and as he walked to the 16th tee, the tournament felt over.
You know the rest. He birdied the par-5 18th to seal the win, and now we’re running out of hurdles for Åberg to climb. He’s already good at majors. He’s already consistent in the week-to-week grind of PGA Tour life. He has already won a Ryder Cup match by the largest margin in the event’s history. And now he has confirmed he can be a killer. All that’s left is winning majors, and we are extremely far from expecting that to have happened and also prepared for it at any moment.
A birdie for the win @TheGenesisInv!
Soak it in, Ludvig 🏆 pic.twitter.com/H8KkZNqiON
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2025
Ludvig Åberg is a rocket ship. He always has been, and the ascent continues.
He was asked about what this win does for his season expectations, and he acknowledged it takes some pressure off, but what he said next tells us a little more about how the 25-year-old Swede thinks. It felt so good that all he wants is the next one.
“It’s almost addicting to walk down those last couple holes,” he said, “and just want to do it again.”
(Top photo: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
