aberg

PGA Tour U grad joins Ludvig Åberg, ready for hometown pro debut pga,tour,u,grad,joins,ludvig,berg,ready,for,hometown,pro,debut,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 19, 2024 By: admin

CROMWELL, Conn. — New England has another PGA Tour pro and his name is Michael Thorbjornsen.

After finishing atop the PGA Tour University rankings, as Ludvig Åberg did in 2023, Thorbjornsen earned his PGA Tour card for the remainder of the 2024 season and all of 2025. But since he hails from Wellesley, Massachusetts, a suburb west of Boston, the Travelers Championship decided to award Thorbjornsen with a sponsor’s exemption, given that this is the only tour event held in New England.

“This is definitely my home, I would say, on the PGA Tour,” Thorbjornsen said in front of the press Wednesday.

“I obviously made my first PGA Tour start here two years ago as an amateur. Love this place. It’s close to home. Love the golf course. Travelers does an amazing job of hosting the players, the caddies, just incredible hospitality and, yeah, I couldn’t ask for a better start.”

Two years ago, before this tournament evolved into a Signature Event, Thorbjornsen finished in solo fourth, four strokes behind winner Xander Schauffele. The former Stanford Cardinal shot all four rounds in the 60s as he sat toward the top of the leaderboard for most of the weekend. That strong performance came one week after the 2022 U.S. Open, where he missed the cut at The Country Club at Brookline—just miles from where he grew up.

He received another invite last year but unfortunately missed the cut. At least a fellow New Englander, Keegan Bradley, emerged victorious.

Thorbjornsen will make his professional debut this year, as he believes his prior experiences as an amateur have helped him immensely.

“Growing up as a kid you always want to be playing at that top stage, playing on the PGA Tour,” Thorbjornsen added.

“It’s definitely a little overwhelming at times, but… the past couple of years, I’ve been exposed to more and more of this, so it’s not too much of a shock to the system. I guess I’m getting used to it. It’s okay, I really don’t mind it at all.”

But now that Thorbjornsen has a bigger opportunity and will be in the limelight more often, he has a chance to influence other young players from the New England area. He is honored to have that opportunity.

“Just because you’re from the northeast and it snows for more than half of a year, that’s no excuse. Just keep working hard, guys,” Thorbjornsen said when asked if he had a message to younger players from New England.

“I just want to set a good example for these kids and inspire them to be the best golfers and best human beings they could possibly be because that’s what the guys ahead of me did for me as well. So, hopefully, one day in 10 years, we’ll have some of these kids out here playing and beating me and winning this tournament.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

U.S. Open: Tony Finau, Ludvig Åberg kiss chances goodbye on 13 u,s,open,tony,finau,ludvig,berg,kiss,chances,goodbye,on,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 16, 2024 By: admin

One hole took down two contenders on Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Open.

The short, dogleg right 13th hole, which only measures 368 yards, turned into a beast—at least for Tony Finau and Ludvig Åberg.

When Finau stepped on the 13th tee, he had just dropped back down to 4-under for the championship, thanks to a bogey at the 12th. Bogies do not kill golfers in U.S. Opens, but anything worse does.

After finding the fairway off the tee, Finau had less than 100 yards into the pin, which sat on a little shelf on the front right corner of the green. A false front repels anything a tad short, while a slope beyond the pin knocks anything long into a sand trap that must be avoided.

Accuracy on this approach was paramount, and both Finau and Åberg wound up making a mess of things.

Finau’s second shot came up short, as his ball rolled all the way down the slope, settling 30 yards short of the green. He decided to bring the putter out, but that attempt failed miserably. Finau raced his putt well past the flag, and it ended up in the bunker.

The ping-ponging had begun.

“Didn’t have a very good lie. Didn’t really want to pitch it,” Finau said of his third shot.

“Ended up playing ping-pong there.”

His bunker shot then went too far, settling in an area not far from where his second shot had stopped. He wound up making a triple bogey seven, knocking him all the way down to 1-under.

“Thirteen is going to jump out at me as a hole that was the toughest pin on the whole championship, in my opinion,” Finau added.

“That green is pretty crazy right there where that pin is—just the wrong time to miss a shot. Anything can happen on this golf course. I’m just happy with the way I finished.”

Finau closed with five straight pars to card a 2-over 72.

Åberg, meanwhile, played two groups behind Finau and made a similar mistake.

“What happened to me on 13 is not ideal,” Åberg said.

Ludvig Åberg, U.S. Open — Ludvig Åberg hits out of the bunker on the 13th hole during the third round.

“It doesn’t necessarily change the way that you try to approach this golf course. I think there’s only a certain way you can play it. If you don’t play that way, you’re going to get punished. That’s what I did.”

Unlike Finau, the Swede tugged his drive on 13 into the native area left of the fairway. He then hit his second shot just short of the green, exacerbated by the severe slope in front. Then Åberg airmailed his chip into the back bunker, and he, too, began to play some ping pong.

When his game on 13 ended, Åberg penciled in a dreadful seven, sending him back to 2-under for the championship. Meanwhile, his playing partner, Bryson DeChambeau, had all the momentum in the world.

Now DeChambeau leads by three over Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, and Matthieu Pavon at 7-under. Åberg sits five back, while Finau is six. But if not for the unlucky 13th hole, they would still have a chance to win. And yet, their ping-pong games ended in disappointment, but they ended their shots at capturing that first major title, too.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

U.S. Open: Ludvig Aberg learned from Masters missteps, leads u,s,open,ludvig,aberg,learned,from,masters,missteps,leads,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,us-open-golf,golf-majors,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 15, 2024 By: admin

Ludvig Åberg found his groove on Friday at the U.S. Open, becoming the solo leader after 36 holes. He posted a 1-under 69 to move to a 5-under overall and holds a one-shot lead heading into Saturday’s third round.

Once again, the former Texas Tech Red Raider is in contention at a major in 2024. He played Augusta National, another difficult golf course, exceptionally well. Åberg finished runner-up to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at this year’s Masters.

But he made some mistakes down the stretch, notably on the 11th hole, which cost him a chance at a Green Jacket. As such, Åberg will have a chance to put those experiences to work this weekend in North Carolina.

“I think Augusta proved to me that I was able to be in that position,” Åberg said.

“It was more of a justification of you can be there and contend on a Sunday. The golf course also played very difficult. It demanded a lot of patience and discipline, just like this one does. I feel like those experiences that I had back in April were great. Hopefully, we’ll draw some similarities between those.”

The young Swede continued to plug right along at Pinehurst No. 2 on Friday. He remained extremely consistent, hitting 12-of-14 fairways and finding 14-of-18 greens. The 24-year-old has missed just two fairways and six greens over the first two days overall.

To this point, he leads the field in both total strokes gained and strokes gained off the tee.

Yet, he did not have his best day on Friday, even though he recorded three birdies and two bogeys on his round. Still, his round was consistent enough to push him up the leaderboard and into the solo lead.

“Felt like I hit it very nicely today,” Åberg said.

“It was very challenging, and it’s not an easy golf course. I felt like we stayed very disciplined, stayed very patient, and tried to hit it to our targets all the time and see how many good shots we can hit today and see where that ends up at the end.”

He looks to become the first player in 110 years to win in his U.S. Open debut. Francis Ouimet famously did so in 1913 at The Country Club at Brookline as an amateur, which many say put the U.S. Open on the map. Other pundits call Ouimet’s win the most important victory in professional golf history.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Open has transformed into the toughest test in golf, with Pinehurst taking no prisoners.

“I think a U.S. Open is supposed to be hard,” he said.

“It’s supposed to be tricky. It’s supposed to challenge any aspect of your game, and I feel it’s really doing that. But I’m super fortunate with the way that things have turned out over the last couple of days, and hopefully, we’ll be able to keep it up.”

Despite its difficulty, Åberg knows this track fairly well. He played a U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst in 2019 but failed to advance past the round of 32. That experience taught him a lot about how to take on this tricky golf course.

“I think with the way those greens are when it gets really firm—you don’t really have any bail-out areas; you’ve got to take on the golf shots and see where it ends up,” Åberg said.

“If you don’t pull it off, you’re going to have a really tricky short game shot. I think it’s a challenging golf course, but once again, that’s how it was supposed to be.”

Åberg and Bryson DeChambeau will comprise the final pairing for the third round of the U.S. Open.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.