Ludvig Aberg A ‘No Brainer’ For Wildcard Pick - PGA Tour Pro

One PGA Tour pro thinks Ludvig Aberg is a "no brainer" for Luke Donald's Ryder Cup team after another impressive outing by the young Swede

Ludvig Aberg at the 2023 Omega European Masters
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul Higham
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Ludvig Aberg is a "no brainer" of a pick for Luke Donald to make for his European Ryder Cup team, according to PGA Tour pro Byeong-hun An.

An posted exactly that on social media shortly after the young Swede had shot 64 in the first round of the Omega European Masters when playing alongside Donald's vice-captains Edoardo Molinari and Nicolas Colsaerts.

Aberg's latest fine round comes after a T4 finish in Prague last week while also in the spotlight and being watched by Donald and his backroom team.

The 23-year-old has had a stellar rise, becoming World No.1 amateur then in May claiming his second successive Ben Hogan Award as the top college golfer - something only previously achieved by Jon Rahm in 2015 and 2016.

Later that month, Aberg secured his PGA Tour card after claiming the top spot on the PGA Tour University rankings.

It didn’t take him long to create a stir after turning pro, either, stringing several good performances together and picking up a T4 in July’s John Deere Classic before matching that last week at the D+D Real Czech Masters.

Aberg described his first round in Switzerland as "pretty solid tee to green" after making another fast start.

"Overall very happy with the way I played and got off to a pretty hot start," said Aberg after making birdies on five of his first six holes.

"It was cold, but not as cold as I was expecting (this morning). The last couple of days it has been cooler, so it wasn’t too bad."

As well as what seems to be an unshakeable confidence and ability to handle any type of pressure, Aberg's big strength has been off the tee.

He hits it long and straight and has now wowed on both sides of the Atlantic by launching some accurate bombs with his driver in PGA Tour and DP World Tour events.

And it's not just anecdotal evidence from watching Aberg's highlight reel either, as stats guru Justin Ray pointed out with a startling fact about the Swede's driving prowess.

Leading the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee ahead of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler takes some doing, even with a relatively small sample size.

It just shows what a huge star of the future Aberg could be, and what a joker up Donald's sleeve he could yet be at the Ryder Cup in Rome.

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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