JACKSON, Miss. — His tee shot on No. 11 found the rough left of the fairway, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from his expression. That’s because Ludvig Aberg, a rookie sensation favored to win the Sanderson Farms Championship less than a week after helping Europe win the Ryder Cup, was laughing.
Aberg was standing in thicker grass than he’d prefer, waiting to hit his second shot on the 532-yard par 5, but he was chuckling amid a conversation with caddie Jack Clarke.
If there was any frustration with the golfer, he wasn’t showing it. Even when his next shot landed off the green and 60 feet from the pin, he looked unbothered. And when his ensuing chip landed just eight feet from the pin, giving him a putt he’d make for a third consecutive birdie, his calm demeanor remained.
“Simple, simple, simple” a spectator said as he watched Aberg (5 under par, three shots back) complete the up-and-down.
That’s who the 23-year-old Texas Tech product is. He’s a rising star in a sport constantly hungry for its next Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy. He’s the guy who paired up with FedEx Cup winner Viktor Hovland to beat Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler last Saturday in historic fashion in Italy.
Aberg, who said he felt some fatigue in the first round, battled a hangover many crave to make it on his flight to America on Monday.
“We had a really fun night on Sunday,” Aberg said Wednesday. “Everyone came into the team room that we had. It was really cool to be a part of. Those are the things that you dream of as a kid and especially as a young boy in Sweden growing up. That’s what you want to be a part of. I don’t think I’ll ever want to miss one again in the future.”
The display of his personality, or lack thereof, on the course will help ensure he’s part of the European team for years to come. By the next one, he at least will have played in, and maybe won, a major.
Aberg was playing in NCAA competition last spring. Now he’s drawing the biggest crowd at a PGA Tour event in Mississippi while his girlfriend, Olivia Peet, sports a Ryder Cup hat from behind the ropes.
After back-to-back pars, he made his way toward the 14th hole. The tee box sits beside a refreshment tent, where fans quickly move toward the edge to watch Aberg, and not just to see his blistering drive.
One fan pulled out his phone just to record Aberg pacing beside the tee box while waiting to hit. Spectators are realizing the magnitude of what he could become in the sport, even though he knows there’s a long way to go.
That’s why a young star, who nobody would have scolded for backing out of a tournament with a rooster for its trophy, finds himself in Jackson.
“I still feel like I have a lot to do,” Aberg said. “For me, to kind of test the waters a little bit with playing in the Ryder Cup and being around those guys and play against arguably the best players in the world — for me to have those experiences and knowing what it takes to be the best player in the world, and kind of for me to create a relationship with those guys and hang out with them has been unbelievable.
“Hopefully that’s something that I’ll be able to use to my advantage coming into the rest of this year, and then also for the rest of my career.”
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