SAN DIEGO — Ludvig Åberg was hardly sick of Torrey Pines. But he was sick at Torrey Pines and that made for a rocky couple of weeks, capped by a victory at the same place he left in distress, a couple of high scores making him feel even worse.
Åberg bounced back from an illness that hindered him here three weeks ago, knocked him out of the Pebble Beach tournament and saw him trying to regain his form to win the relocated Genesis Invitational on Sunday, his second PGA Tour victory in addition to another in Europe.
He birdied four of the final six holes to edge Maverick McNealy by a stroke and win by three over No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Rodgers and in doing so got the tournament trophy from host Tiger Woods.
MORE: Final results, payouts from the Genesis Invitational
“I think it's just sort of the comeback from the last couple weeks,” Åberg said after a final-round 66. “I sort of felt like I wasn't really myself, wasn't feeling great, wasn't swinging great, sort of struggled a bit at home last week with how I was playing.
“Was nice to come here sort of starting to feel like myself again and physically getting there. It means a lot. This is the best field in golf and to be able to do what I did today is definitely going to help me going forward in the future.”
Åberg, 25, who is from Sweden and played college golf at Texas Tech, opened the Farmers Insurance Open three weeks ago with a 63, only to be felled by illness heading into the weekend, leading to scores of 75-79 in which he was physically ill on the golf course.
He felt well enough to give it a go a few days later at Pebble Beach, but that proved problematic, too, as Åberg ended up withdrawing after the first round and heading to his home in Florida. He said he was in bed until the following Tuesday.
“Yeah, it was rough for a while,” Åberg said. “Round 1 was fine, Round 2 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 it wasn’t very enjoyable. And then it sort of was okay for a couple of 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.
“Lost about eight pounds total in two days, so that’s not the right way to lose weight.”
Åberg is still just more than a year into his pro career and has the distinction of having played in a Ryder Cup for Europe in 2023 before competing in a major championship.
The first time he did so was last year at the Masters, where he contended on the final day before finishing second to Scottie Scheffler.
A third-round 76—his highest score in nearly three years—hurt Scheffler’s chances at Torrey Pines, but he made it interesting with a final-round 66 in his third event back following his freak Christmas hand injury.
“Overall, coming back after a four-ish-week layoff and not really having a ton of time to prep, I'm pretty pleased,” said Scheffler, who tied for ninth at Pebble Beach, tied for 25th last week at the WM Phoenix Open and tied for third Sunday.
“I'm trying to stay patient with myself, which can be tough because I have high expectation and I think when I get out here and start competing, I definitely forget that I had lost some of the progress I made in the offseason. It’s not easy to come out here and play competitive golf at a high level and get right back to where I was last year, losing those weeks that I had at home where I couldn’t do anything.
“ I think some of that makes it even more impressive what Tiger’s able to do off of his surgeries and long layoffs and just come out and compete with us is pretty miraculous. I’m trying to give myself a little bit of grace and some patience kind of getting back into the swing of things. I did some things in the last few weeks that I’m happy with and definitely some things that I need to improve on.”
Woods, who won eight times at Torrey Pines including the 2008 U.S. Open, was on hand for the final day, a thrill for any young player who wins his tournament.
Joaquin Niemann won the Genesis in 2022 at Riviera, where Woods gave him the trophy, and his ascension is somewhat similar to Åberg, who is a year younger. Niemann, who won the LIV Golf Adelaide event Sunday for his third LIV title, won twice on the PGA Tour before leaving for LIV and late last year won the Saudi International.
Although he is not earning world ranking points playing for LIV, Niemann was rated 18th in Data Golf’s weekly rankings prior to his victory, two spots behind Åberg.
The Swede had his own patience issues to overcome. After winning quickly upon turning pro in 2023 and having a starring role at the Ryder Cup, he failed to capture any titles last year, seemingly coming up short repeatedly on the final day, although he had nine worldwide top-10s.
“It felt like a lifetime,” he said.
You’d never know it by his demeanor, typically calm and collected, with a golf swing that is the envy of his peers.
Åberg was helped by a hole in one Saturday on the 3rd hole. He made eight birdies on Sunday, including a three-hole stretch on the back nine which allowed him to catch McNealy, who shot a final-round 64.
“It is hard winning on the PGA Tour, they're the best players in the world,” he said. “Anytime you have the opportunity to win it's a cool feeling to try to win a golf tournament coming down the last couple holes.
“Today I executed the shots, I made a couple putts and that was the difference. It's very reassuring to know that I can sort of go from where I was a couple weeks ago to winning a tournament in sort of a quick turnaround.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as With Genesis Invitational Win, Ludvig Åberg Enjoys Much Better Visit to Torrey Pines.
