It has only been three months since Ludvig Åberg ended his amateur career as world number one to become a professional, and already he is fighting for a place in the European team in Rome at the end of September.
Åberg has impressed on the American PGA Tour during the summer, with a best of fourth place. Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald caught the eye of the Skåne early on and at the beginning of August he urged Åberg to go to Europe to play the last two events on the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) before the team is withdrawn.
— I would guess that I need two top positions. It is enough to join such a strong European team as it is, said Åberg recently in an interview with WTV.
Ten under par
The competition week in the Czech Republic has started well for Ludvig Åberg. After 68 shots in the first round, it was 66 shots when the blue and yellow giant played his second round at Albatross Golf Resort.
With a total of ten strokes under par, Åberg was tied for second place when he had finished playing early in the afternoon.
What’s worse for the Swede is that there are other hot Ryder Cup aspirants playing well. 22-year-old Dane Nicolai Højgaard has played the first two rounds with just Åberg and vice-captain Francesco Molinari – and did even better. Højgaard has acquired an early lead in the competition, twelve under par and two strokes ahead of Åberg.
Six captain’s picks
The qualifying period for the Ryder Cup team runs through next week’s competition in Switzerland. Three players take their places via the European Tour, another three via world ranking points – and then Luke Donald completes the squad with his six captain’s picks on Monday 4 September.
Then it will be decided whether Ludvig Åberg has sufficiently impressed the English captain, who has a lot to think about in the near future.
— I don’t know if it was jet lag last night or if it’s that a lot is approaching, but I was up for a few hours in the middle of the night – there are a lot of thoughts spinning in my head, said 46-year-old Donald earlier this week to the Ryder Cup’s website .
At the moment, there are formally only three players who are completely ready for Europe’s team, namely the star trio Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland.