Ludvig Aberg Reveals Chance Meeting Ultimately Led To Dream Ryder Cup Debut

Considering Ludvig Aberg only turned pro in June, his inclusion in the European Ryder Cup team took some by surprise.

In the end, Luke Donald’s decision to make the Swede one of his wildcards for the match at Marco Simone proved inspired as he claimed two points from his four matches to help Team Europe reclaim the trophy.

Not that Aberg had any designs on making the team immediately after leaving the amateur game behind. The 23-year-old appeared on the Subpar podcast, where he explained how he went so quickly from the amateur game to the first player in the history of the match to appear without having competed in a Major.

Aberg revealed that, were it not for a word of advice shortly after turning professional, he wouldn’t have even been considered. He said: “When I turned pro, we went to Jacksonville to the PGA Tour headquarters for a little briefing, rookie orientation deal. 

"I remember there was a rules official and he told me: ‘You know, it might be a good idea to apply for an affiliate membership with the European Tour because if you do that you'll be eligible for the Ryder Cup team.'”

However, Aberg revealed he was reluctant to act on the advice. He continued: “I go: ‘Feels a little like a push, you know? I don’t really see myself there yet. Maybe in two years’ time,’ but that was the first time we had conversations about it and then, yeah, tried to play my best and see where that took me but it was quite cool that it ended up the way it did.”

That’s something of an understatement as Aberg was also part of a piece of history in the contest, when he and Viktor Hovland teamed up in the Saturday morning foursomes to inflict a record Ryder Cup defeat on Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka as the rookie truly announced himself to the world.

It wasn’t just the rules official who had encouraged Aberg to give himself a chance of making the team, though. Before the match, Donald revealed he had urged Aberg to play on the DP World Tour ahead of his wildcard picks.

That led to Aberg's first DP World Tour title, the Omega European Masters. Donald said: “I needed to see him perform those two weeks. It certainly wasn't a guarantee before that.”

While Team Europe reaped the rewards of Donald’s decision to give Aberg the nod, it seems he has the rules official to thank for encouraging the youngster to give himself a chance of selection to begin with.

Since the Ryder Cup, Aberg has continued to build his reputation, and came agonisingly close to his maiden PGA Tour win in last week's Sanderson Farms Championship, before missing out in a five-man playoff, which was won by Luke List. This week, he's in the field for the Shriner's Children's Open at TPC Summerlin.