Ludvig Aberg Or David Puig For One Spot? The Other Goes To A Direct Rival - Welcome To Life As A D1 College Recruiter

If you've ever wondered the kind of pressure D1 college recruiters are under in terms of making sure their roster will give them the best possible chance of lifting an NCAA Championship in the years to come, here is a very recent and high-profile example of the kind of choices said coaches have to make.

Prior to the 2019-20 class beginning, Arizona State University's men's golf program - one of the biggest and best in the USA - had a huge decision on its hands, David Puig or Ludvig Aberg? There was only one spot available in the five-man roster and either the Swede or the Spaniard was knowingly being passed on to a direct rival.

Both were highly promising amateurs with unlimited potential ahead of them and likely piqued the interest of every leading school in America. One would go to ASU while the other would have his choice of Auburn, Stanford, Florida State et al.

As it turned out, ASU plumped for Puig and he went on to become a multiple-time All-American while collecting several college victories along the way. The young Spaniard was also a part of the team which finished as runner-up at the 2022 NCAA D1 Men's Golf Championship. In fact, his two-year stint in Phoenix was so impressive, Puig left school later on that year to turn pro and join the LIV Golf League.

But on the other side of the coin was Aberg, who went on to join Texas Tech and won 10 college tournaments in four years. Those achievements ultimately landed him two Ben Hogan Awards and one Haskins award while he ended top of the PGA Tour U rankings - securing him an immediate trip to the top US circuit. As for his college team, Texas Tech only made it to the NCAA Championship once during Aberg's time there - 2022, the year he won his first Big 12 Men's Championship.

Whichever way you look at it, ASU were on to a winner. Literally. But in terms of what defines success for their college, the margins are wafer thin and recruiters have to make the right call almost every time or face the consequences.

ASU men's associate head coach, Thomas Sutton explained that that level of decision occurs almost every single year as his team battles to remain one of the best men's golf teams in the USA.

Speaking to Golf Monthly, Sutton said: "I mean, I'm recruiting yesterday and I'm watching four kids, and you have to - as a coach - say for sure, this kid as a 16-year-old is going to be the guy that helps our team three years from now. And you could get the other kid or you could get this kid, but you have to say, I want this one because of this. And that's hard to do.

"I think at one year, I mean, this is how crazy it was. They had one spot on the team. I mean, I wasn't here, so I'm going off of a little bit of a rumor here, but Ludvig Aberg and David Puig - same year, one spot.

"We have a Spanish connection. It makes 100% sense to go with David Puig. So, we do. And it worked out great. Three-time all-American. Amazing. But you just realize that *Ludvig Aberg* was on the other side of that and you're like, "Wow."

"I mean, that's kind of the decisions we have to make. And either one of those, it's great. You'll take either player and love it. But I have a lot of pressure when I tell a player that could be really good that ‘no, we're going to go with someone else’ because I know I might regret 10% of these a lot because they're going to your competitor.

"It's not like if you say no, they're going to Arizona and we're playing against Arizona every week. And so, you think about all those things all the time."

Sutton - born in Alabama and once an aspiring pro - began his coaching career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as assistant and spent two seasons there doing what he describes as "the best job in the world."

A five-year stint at the University of Washington generated 11 team wins before the opportunity to join Matt Thurmond in Arizona arrived in 2022 - a chance Sutton snapped up.

Yet, despite taking The Huskies to renewed heights via a litter of All-American performances and helping ASU maintain their stranglehold as one of the most successful golf programs in the world, Sutton admitted he still suffers from Imposter Syndrome "all the time" when considering the amount of pressure he is under to deliver excellence.

Sutton said: "People assume you're ASU so you're going to always be good. It's really hard to be consistently good.

"It's easy to have a goal to catch someone. It's hard to have the discipline and to be able to recruit the players and to be good year in, year out, regardless of guys turning pro early or one guy having a slump.

"You don't have any excuses here - 'oh, we couldn't play in the winter' or whatever. I mean, everything is there for you to be good. If you're not good, you almost have to look in the mirror. And I love it because you have that drive to be good. But it is very, very tricky. It's very stressful.

"But I think part of the head coach's job (Matt Thurmond) and my job is to… even though there's so much pressure, even though there's so much riding on it, the key in golf is being able to do what you can do even when there's so many distractions.

"You don't have to rise to the occasion and be someone you're not. You just have to be able to do what you can do with all the distractions, with all the pressure, at the right time. And that's really easy to say but very very hard to do."