Ludvig Aberg has revealed details of a mystery illness that forced his withdrawal from the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The illness had begun a week earlier at the Farmers Insurance Open. However, on that occasion, the Swede was able to battle on before finishing T42, despite the issue taking hold after the second round of the Torrey Pines event.
Aberg is back at the venue this week for the Genesis Invitational, where he went into the weekend T5. After his second round, he explained the illness began as a stomach bug before giving him body aches and a fever.
He said: “Yeah, it was rough for a while. It started – round one was fine, round two was fine and I sort of woke up in the middle of the night, I guess this must have been Friday night because we started Wednesday, going into the third round and I started throwing up and I started all these things and it wasn't very enjoyable.
“And then it sort of was OK for a couple days and then at Pebble it kind of shifted to like feverish and almost like body aches and shivering. First I was really hot, then I got really cold.”
Aberg carded a 77 in the opening round at Spyglass Hill two weeks ago, but he was too unwell to continue, and he revealed the illness had led to him losing weight, adding. “Lost about eight pounds total in two days, so that's not the right way to lose weight.”
Aberg didn’t play in last week’s WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, and he admitted the break had helped him recover, even though he’s not completely back on track just yet.
He said: “It was nice to get a week off last week and sort of just eat as much as I could to get back to training as normal, working out is normal. I'm still trying to build the weight up a little bit, I'm not quite where I started say Wednesday at Farmers. Probably got a couple pounds left to gain but getting there.”
Aberg began the year well with a T5 at The Sentry before the illness temporarily derailed his progress. If his first two rounds of the Genesis Invitational are anything to go by, he’s close to being back to his best. Rounds of 74 and 66 on Friday included five birdies and an eagle to leave him four shots behind overnight leader Davis Thompson.
Familiar names towards the top of the leaderboard include Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, although Aberg said their presence wouldn't alter his approach to trying to get his second PGA Tour win.
He said: "Yeah, I think at this point we all expect them to be there. We know they're both playing very well. And it doesn't really change the way that I try to go about my business, but yeah, obviously when those guys are at their best it's hard to beat, but it's also very encouraging to sort of try to keep up, I guess."
