U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2024

June 13, 2024

Ludvig Aberg

Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 2)

Flash Interview

THE MODERATOR: Five birdies, one bogey. Pretty consistent today. How did you feel about your round?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Yeah, absolutely, like you said, it was very nice round of golf. Not a lot to complain about. I felt like those times where I kind of got myself out of position a little bit, you just try to get back into play as easy as you can, give yourself a chance for a par.

Made a couple nice putts, hit some really nice shots.

Q. This course and Augusta National are both unique. What is key for you to getting comfortable on a unique test?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Yeah, I think staying very disciplined is important. There's a lot of pins where you don't really think about going for. So me and Joe, my caddie, we have a lot of good conversations about certain areas that you try to hit it on.

It's difficult to be very, very precise with the numbers and those things. But try to get a gauge on where to hit it, where to miss it, make sure that we stay disciplined towards things.

Q. Is it tough to be disciplined?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Oh, it's really hard. Especially when you have a wedge in your hand or something like that where normally you would go at the pin, but you can't really do that here.

Yeah, absolutely. It's the U.S. Open, it's supposed to be hard. That's what we're doing here.

Q. How do you feel your disciplined in your life?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: In my life?

Q. In what other ways are you disciplined off the course?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: All things I do, I try to do it the right way. I try not to obviously cheat or anything, those things. No matter what I am doing, whether that's in the workout room or whenever it is, I try to do it the right way. I believe good things will come from that.

Q. What is the first U.S. Open you remember watching?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: I remember the first one that I actually paid attention to was this one in 2014. I do remember watching Kaymer play really well. Now when I'm working with Joe, who was working with Rickie back then, he was obviously playing very well. I do have some memories of Pinehurst. I got to play the U.S. Amateur here a couple years ago.

Yeah, obviously really like the place.

Q. You hit every fairway in regulation, almost every green. Could it have gone any better, being your first round at the Open?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: I'll absolutely take it. I'm very, very pleased obviously. I wouldn't want to do it again.

No, super happy with the way we hit it. Super happy with the execution today. I felt it was really nice and very encouraging. All we can try to do is keep it up and make sure that we're ready to go tomorrow.

Q. Were you nervous at all?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Nervous? Oh, I'm always nervous when I'm playing tournament golf. I think that's the way it's supposed to be. I think the day when I'm not nervous, it's not a good sign. Obviously a lot of butterflies this morning. It was early, but a lot of butterflies.

Q. Getting one in red figures at a tournament, like, does that change your approach going into tomorrow knowing you're not chasing a number?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: No. I don't think we're trying to chase a number, per se. I think we're just trying to manage our way around the golf course. Obviously today I executed it very nicely, and that's maybe not always going to be the case.

Pinehurst is hard as it is. It's going to be difficult, it's going to be tricky. It's hard to put a number out there, I guess. All we try to do is just hit as many good shots as we can to the areas that we're playing for, then see where that adds up.

Q. What was the scariest shot today?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Scariest shot? I mean, No. 8 is pretty scary, knowing that long and left is no good. So all you try to do is just dump it on the right side, take a putt. Luckily we did that today.

Q. Was there something technically that helped today?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Yeah, I mean, I think last week I had some tendencies to miss it right, which I don't really like. Kind of getting out of it a little bit more.

So a couple days ago we worked on it a little bit to cover it a little bit better, make sure we get the shot moving a little bit forward, activate the body. My tendency is to get a little bit lazy at times. Rotated a little bit harder and felt like we did that really well today.

Q. Which knee is giving you a little bit of trouble? Is there one part of the game, walking, bending?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: No, I have absolutely no issues whatsoever.

Thank you.