THE 152ND OPEN

July 15, 2024

Ludvig Aberg

Press Conference

MIKE WOODCOCK: Good afternoon, everyone. For our second press conference of the day, we're joined by the world No. 4 and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg. Ludvig, you had a great performance over the weekend in the Scottish Open, and this is your debut in the Open Championship. How much are you looking forward to a links test here with the world's best players?

LUDVIG ABERG: Absolutely. I'm very excited about it. I think it's going to be a cool week, a cool tournament, this having been my first Open, having never even been to one.

I'm trying to soak it all in Monday through Wednesday, then come Thursday be as ready as I can to play good golf.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Obviously this is a place where your countryman Henrik Stenson had a great victory the last time The Open was here. How much of a inspiration is that for you?

LUDVIG ABERG: I've said that a few times before, that day should be a national holiday in Sweden. It was a very cool day.

I vividly remember watching that with my friends, and it's cool to see what he's done for Swedish golf, and he's doing, so obviously was the pinnacle of that.

Q. It seemed like yesterday your driver for whatever reason just kind of seemed inaccurate. Was there anything in particular that maybe led to that?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, definitely. Over the last couple of weeks, I've had this -- it's basically the same issue. As a golfer, you're always going to have tendencies that you work towards. It kind of progressed and got a little bit worse over the tournament.

I'd say I got away with it a little bit more Friday and Saturday, but the tendencies were still there. Kind of like coming under it, behind it, flipping it, and it's not a very nice place to hit drivers from.

Q. I guess you've had chances in majors, and some of them maybe faded away a bit on Sunday. Do you maybe not worry about that because you think this was just a little bit of the knee thing? Was it your knee you were saying was bothering you?

LUDVIG ABERG: No.

Q. I apologize.

LUDVIG ABERG: No, it was my swing.

Q. I guess then what do you attribute maybe to why -- it's your first time through so many of these tournaments, but maybe 72 holes hasn't quite worked out?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I feel like I'm playing good golf. I'm working on the tendencies. I'm trying to score as well as I can. Sometimes you get away with a little bit more, and sometimes you get a little bit more exposed.

I think yesterday was a good example of when I wasn't in the fairway, it was tough. Being better off the tee yesterday would have been a little bit easier, obviously, to score a better score.

I still felt like there was a lot of good things last week, and if you put it in a bigger perspective, I'm obviously very happy with a top-5 finish.

Q. Being European, is this the major that you would like want to win the most?

LUDVIG ABERG: It is the one that's closer to home, definitely, and it is the one that I've watched growing up a little bit more, a little bit closer. So I do feel that connection to The Open and to the UK.

I love being here. I love playing these tournaments, and really looking forward to it.

Q. Just another question. I'm from Denmark. We have the Hojgaards. How much would you want to win a major before those two guys?

LUDVIG ABERG: Obviously Nicolai and Rasmus are good friends. They're very good players. I wish them all the best in any golf tournament they play. Obviously if I have to pick, I'd love to win it before them.

Q. I know that Sunday didn't end exactly the way you would have wanted it to, but I could see you were happy for your friend Bob, your Ryder Cup friend. Obviously there's a lot of excitement around having a Scotsman win last week. Do you think he's got the game to contend and win this Open?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yes, he won yesterday, so I definitely think he can win again. Fair play to Bob yesterday, he did it tremendously. It's not easy going out and playing in front of a big crowd like that and perform, and he did that very well.

I'm really happy for him and his family and his coaches about what he did yesterday. Obviously I think this week is going to be pretty special for him as well.

Q. How do you go about fixing this tendency that you're working on while you're like playing in the wind, competing at majors, doing all the stuff, where you can't just go to a range, for instance. How do you work through that? How do you solve that problem?

LUDVIG ABERG: It's tricky. Me and my coach, we use the term of like brushing your teeth. You do it every day, and you try to work on it a little bit, a little bit, a little bit so you don't get too far off on one side or the other. That's what we're trying to do.

Monday through Wednesday we've got a little bit more time, and obviously during the tournament days, you do that as well.

It's not like I'm reinventing the swing or anything like that. It's the same tendencies I've had for a long time. You just need a little bit of a push in the right direction, and that's the case.

Q. You've seen a bit of Brian Harman lately. What is it about his game that strikes you?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, he's a good player, defending champion. I think his style of golf fits these golf courses. He's very easy. Plays very uncomplicated golf.

Obviously when he's playing well, he's putting very well. I haven't played too many tournament rounds with him, so I can't speak too much about that. But what I've seen, that would be the case.

Q. Another question about Bob, if that's okay. You are Ryder Cup teammates. How much confidence do you both take from that week in Rome, and what did you learn about Bob as a person and a player?

LUDVIG ABERG: I can't really speak for Bob too much on that, I guess. I can only speak for myself. But I took away a lot from that week. I thought it was very cool to be in that situation, be around those players and persons, or the people that I've watched on TV for a very, very long time.

I think Bob would feel the same way, that being in that environment around better players makes you better. He performed very well in Rome, and it definitely helped him and me, I would guess, a lot going forward.

Q. This year as a fully fledged professional, this is your first Open. Have you been able to take stock on what you've achieved this first year to get to being world No. 4?

LUDVIG ABERG: I think I will do that in a little bit. Right now you're just so into it going from tournament to tournament and trying to play as well as you can. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun these last 12 months, 13 months.

Very fortunate to have had a lot of those experiences. Ultimately, I'm just trying to play good golf and trying to have fun with me and my team and my coaches and whatnot.

It's cool. Hopefully we'll have many, many more years to come.

Q. Just go back to your final rounds and maybe not just getting it done. Aside from the golf you've played, what have you learned about yourself in those situations going into the final round?

LUDVIG ABERG: Absolutely. I've learned a lot that I like being in that situation. I think that's the main thing. I try not to shy away from it.

In football you talk a lot about wanting the ball, and that's what I try to tell myself, and that's what I want to do. I enjoy the pressure. I think it's -- I think that's what you want. That's why you play and practice all these hours.

To be in that situation is just cool. It's fun to see the people around enjoying, watching golf, and then enjoying watching you play, and ultimately that's why you play golf.

Q. They say you often learn more from defeats than you learn from victories. Would you say you've learned a lot from some of those near misses?

LUDVIG ABERG: I think so. I think so. Anytime you are in that situation, you discover things about yourself, whether that's emotions that shows up or anything that shows up really that you can take away.

I've been fortunate to have had a few of those experiences over the last couple of months. I think anytime you are there, it just gets easier.

Q. Just looking ahead a couple of weeks, we've got the Olympics coming up as well. Where do you rank that in terms of how high it is on your schedule and how much it would mean for you to win representing your country in France?

LUDVIG ABERG: I think the feeling of representing your country is very difficult to compare with. It's a different dynamic. I've been fortunate to represent Sweden in my amateur days.

So this will be the first time in a while that I get to do it again. Putting on some blue and yellow clothes is not the colors that I normally wear, but it will be cool to do that in Paris. Obviously really looking forward to it.

I think just the pride that comes with it will be very, very cool.

Q. And does the fact that obviously you wore blue and yellow at the Ryder Cup just bring a little bit extra to it as well?

LUDVIG ABERG: I think so, yeah. A lot of those clothes that we had in Rome were actually reminding me of Sweden, so that was cool.

Q. Do you think that the media and some people have too high expectations for you? You've only been out here for a year.

LUDVIG ABERG: I'm always -- I can't really speak for other people. I can only speak for myself. I'm always going to have high expectations because I know what I can do and I know my abilities. I guess it's up to other people to say and think what they want. That's not really my place to say anything about.

Yeah, obviously I'm always going to have high expectations of myself.