There is an appealing segment in an episode of the latest “Full Swing” in which Ludvig Åberg is seen wrestling with a coffee-making machine. How reassuring is it that the man who can play golf in a way most people can only dream of is momentarily perplexed by the simple act of making a cup of coffee? “Where does the coffee carton go?” he might have been thinking. “Is this thing turned on?” “Where do I pour the water in?” “Why isn’t it working?”
Åberg, 25, might have finished second in his first major championship – the 2024 Masters – and been a hero in the Ryder Cup six months before that. His talent might have been described as “generational” by Luke Donald, the Europe Ryder Cup captain. He might have won $18 million on the PGA Tour since he turned pro in 2023, but he isn’t sure how to make a cup of coffee. How relatable to most of us does that make the Swede?
On the other hand there is nothing about Åberg’s golf that we can relate to. We marvel as he whisks another huge drive down a fairway and warm to him for the way he smiles as he walks briskly after it. But that’s all. Ranked 1,964th in the world in January 2023, 27 months ago, and 30th in December of that year, he has come farther faster than almost any player whose name is not Tiger Woods. He is now fifth, an outstanding performer on both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour with an enviable armoury of skills that other players openly covet.
“I have never seen anyone hit the ball quite as high and straight on a flight that doesn’t move,” Justin Rose said. “Nobody. Not Tiger, not Rory. He doesn’t shape the ball. He doesn’t curve it very much at all. It is hugely impressive. And he does it with what looks like minimal effort. A quick waggle, whack and he’s off and running. Nice to watch.
“But when he does hit a bad shot, which doesn’t look possible, he laughs it off,” Rose continued. “He has such a good temperament from that point of view. That will stand him in good stead for years and years to come out here on tour.
“He is totally wise beyond his years. He took everything in his stride at the Ryder Cup. From turning pro in June to being in the frame in July/August was incredible. He was an easy guy to be around. You never worried about him in Rome. It was never ‘oh someone had better put their arm around him.’
“He made it seem unnervingly easy. His golf does the talking and so long as he can control his emotions at a certain point his skill set is always going to shine through for him.”
As the caravanserai that is the PGA Tour arrives in Augusta, it is clear that Åberg’s powerful golf is well suited to this pesky part of Georgia.
Rose’s caddie, Mark Fulcher, known as “Fooch,” added: “Rosie missed out on something. He [Ludvig] is incredibly f****** long as well – and you can quote me on that.”
As the caravanserai that is the PGA Tour arrives in Augusta, it is clear that Åberg’s powerful golf is well suited to this pesky part of Georgia. “He is made for the modern-day game with his effortless power, high ball and strength,” Tommy Fleetwood said. “He is a very impressive golfer. You look at golfers when you’re out here and you say ‘he’s a good golfer’ and ‘he does that well.’ Ludvig has stepped on tour and become one of the best players in the world.
“I think as a player his all-round game and his ability to dominate golf courses with how he plays is what strikes me about him. Being strong, powerful, hitting it high, all that stuff, even aggressive around the greens he looks free and he makes it look like very easy. I love that about his game. He has that going for him. I love his personality, too, how comfortable he is with people. He has settled into a lot of situations with ease and that will serve him well in what is probably going to be a long, unbelievable career.”
Åberg becoming very good very quickly has created a slightly false impression among golf watchers who think he has been around for a long time when in fact he has not yet reached the second anniversary as a professional. He changed his status in the middle of 2023. We have got used to the tall golfer who seems nerveless on a golf course yet is as jumpy as a kitten when watching Liverpool, his team, in important soccer matches. “I want them to win,” he said of the English soccer giants. “I’ve always wanted them to win.”
“I was raised the way you don’t want to be waiting a lot when you’re playing golf. You want to be sort of fast-paced when you’re walking and playing.”
Ludvig Åberg
We appreciate his no-nonsense approach to play – testing the wind direction and strength with blades of grass, one last look down a fairway and then whoosh! the ball is despatched with rare intent. There might be a dip of his knees as he tries to influence its flight and another anxious look down the fairway before tapping the ground and handing his club back to his caddie. It is refreshing that he is so brisk.
“I was raised the way you don’t want to be waiting a lot when you’re playing golf,” he said. “You want to be sort of fast-paced when you’re walking and playing. I think it’s an important part of our game to sort of keep the speed up. I guess it comes natural to me and I like to keep it that way.”
He doesn’t do things by halves. He won the DP World Tour’s 2023 Omega European Masters in only his ninth professional start, and won his first PGA Tour title, the 2023 RSM Classic, in his 14th event as a pro. In February, he stole victory from under Maverick McNealy’s nose by birdieing the 72nd hole to win the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines. Augusta National tests a person’s mental capacity so much that players often come off the course complaining of a headache.
“There’s going to come at least one point when you want to throw yourself in the nearest trash can and disappear,” Hale Irwin, one of the best golfers never to win a Masters, said. “You know you can’t hide. It’s like you’re walking down the fairway naked.”
Åberg has a reputation for calmness. Peter Hanson, his coach, talks about it. So, too, do Rose and Fleetwood. In many ways Åberg might have been built for professional golf and in particular for the challenges he will face at Augusta National. Åberg’s old college coach, Greg Sands, said of Åberg: “God put together the perfect human being for golf.”
Here’s the thing: After finishing second in the 2024 Masters on his debut, might this super Swede, called “a stud” by Rose, go one better in 2025?
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Ludvig Åberg has the tools to make a run at Augusta.
RICHARD HEATHCOTE, GETTY IMAGES