Ludvig Aberg Falls One Short Of Breaking Tiger Woods Record

Ludvig Aberg's rapid ascent towards the top of the men's professional game has been outstanding. From turning pro in June 2023, winning on both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, playing a crucial part in Team Europe's Ryder Cup success, and continuing to compete at the top of almost every leaderboard he is a part of, Aberg has been sensational throughout the opening six months of his pro career.

Aberg's red-hot form has continued into 2024 as well, improving on his previous result in all four of the events he has teed it up in. From a respectable T47 at The Sentry to T30 at the Sony Open, the 24-year-old kicked it up a notch at the Farmers Insurance Open to register T9.

A week later, playing in just his 18th tournament since turning pro, Aberg ended solo second at the weather-hit AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am behind winner, Wyndham Clark. While a second PGA Tour title could have been claimed if the stormy conditions had not reduced the event to 54 holes, Aberg could at least console himself with a check for $2,180,000 and the fact he moved up to 11th in the OWGR.

According to the studious OWGR guru, Nosferatu on X, that meteoric rise up the rankings put the Swede second on the list of fastest players to reach No.11 since turning pro behind - guess who - Tiger Woods. The American juggernaut - who turned pro in 1996 - managed the feat after only 17 professional events, shortly before he claimed the first of 15 career Majors at The Masters.

Third on that list, measured since the inception of OWGR, was LIV Golf's Jon Rahm. The Spaniard made it to No.11 in only 21 tournaments, some way clear of fourth-place Collin Morikawa, who managed it after 28 events.

Hailing from a country that has produced its fair share of superb golfers over the years, from Henrik Stenson to Annika Sorenstam, Aberg's career-high ranking (so far) also slots him in as the fifth highest-ranked male Swede ever to play the game.

While no Swedish man has managed to reach World No.1 (Sorenstam did in the women's game), Stenson made it to World No.2 in May 2014. Meanwhile, Robert Karlsson reached No.6 in October 2008, Jesper Parnevik achieved a career-high position of seventh in May 2000, and Alex Noren was World No. 8 in May 2017.

But with Aberg's stock continuing to rise and more wins surely not very far away, there is every chance this particular list could be rearranged multiple times over the coming months and years.