TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 27, 2024

Ludvig Aberg

East Lake Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Ludvig Ã…berg to the media center here at the TOUR Championship, entering the week No. 5 in the FedExCup, coming off a T2 at the BMW Championship.

A few opening comments on being here at East Lake.

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, absolutely. I've looked forward to it for a long time. I've watched this tournament for a long time. We were just talking about Texas Tech being here and playing East Lake a couple years ago, and I wasn't on that team.

So it's my first time here, and really looking forward to a cool week.

Q. With the restoration that you're going to get out on the golf course this afternoon and see it for the first time, but with the restoration and it being your first time here, everybody is kind of learning a new golf course for the most part. What are your expectations going in?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, for sure. I haven't ever seen the golf course, so I don't know what to expect. We're going to go play this nine this afternoon.

It looks like there are some new changes to the green areas, some surfaces and some holes might look a little bit different, which we'll sure spend some time figuring out those things and make sure we're ready on Thursday.

Q. Did you not make the lineup for the East Lake Cup or you weren't on the team yet?

LUDVIG ABERG: So the week before my roommate got COVID, so I was healthy, I was fit, but these contact tracing, whatever they called it back then, so I couldn't go. I was at home watching it, and I remember that was tough.

Q. Last week you said you felt like you hadn't been swinging well but then you started swinging better at BMW. What was maybe off in the swing, and what did you address at BMW?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I felt like it got better and better. I felt definitely over the weekend in Memphis that it got better. I was seeing the shots that I wanted. I was seeing the misses that I wanted, which is the big thing for me.

It came a little bit from the way that my body was moving. I was working towards a little bit of a stronger face, coming back in the down swing, which if my face is strong I can rotate a little bit harder, and that's a key in my swing.

I have my swing coach here this week, Hans; he came over from Sweden, so it's always nice to spend some time with him.

Q. You've spent the last year and a half, two years getting used to new courses pretty much everywhere you went. What did you find looking back to be the hardest one to get used to, the hardest one to learn?

LUDVIG ABERG: That is a great question. I actually think one of the harder ones is Riviera to get used to because Riviera is -- I love it. It's so good because it's stood the test of time. But it's still really tricky when the greens are firm and you're really working the angles.

I think once you have played there a few times, you kind of know where you can't go and where you should have the pitches from and the putts from. I'm definitely looking forward to coming back there next year and giving it another shot.

But I remember the first couple days coming there and playing, I was like, ooh, this is pretty hard.

Q. I just wanted to know your thoughts on the staggered format of the TOUR Championship. You're starting a few shots back of Scottie this week. I wondered what your thoughts would be on the staggered format.

LUDVIG ABERG: I think it's a cool format. Obviously it's a playoff. It's like any other sport in America where you have a regular season and you have a playoff. I think it's great.

It emphasizes I'm playing well in these three tournaments, and if you play well, you get rewarded. So yeah, I like obviously being here, I like being a part of it, and really looking forward to a cool week.

Q. You've had a lot of firsts this year; how have you wrapped your mind around having so much success despite a lot of this being so new to you?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, there's a lot of new things going on. But I feel like it's very important for me to separate those things. I'm still me. I'm still the same person outside of the golf course. I'm still the same person on the golf course. That doesn't change, which I think is the main important thing for me to keep an eye on and make sure that I have people around me that helps me doing those things.

Obviously I want to get better at golf. I want to play better golf. I want to play bigger tournaments. I want to play well in bigger tournaments. That's just -- I'm a competitor.

But yeah, this 15, 12 months has been amazing for me on the golf course, and it's given me a lot of opportunities and a lot of chances that I haven't had before, and I embrace those and I love playing golf and I love being here.

Q. Back to the staggered format, you're starting right in the middle being five shots back. How does that change your approach beginning on Thursday at all, or maybe it doesn't?

LUDVIG ABERG: I don't think it will change too much for me. It's still a 72-hole golf tournament. Depending on -- I haven't seen the golf course, so I don't really know how to play it, if there's decisions to be made or whatever. But you've still got to go play really good golf, aggressive golf if you want a chance to win, which ultimately that's what we want.

We'll still come up with a good game plan. Whenever you have the opportunity to be aggressive or going to be aggressive, whenever there's a time to be aggressive to a more conservative spot, that's what we're going to do.

I think it depends on the setup. It depends on the layout. But I don't think it really changes where you start in the tournament.

Q. In the last 12 months, what's the best thing that you've experienced and what's the worst thing that you've experienced?

LUDVIG ABERG: The best thing -- I think the best thing when I'm looking back since I got done with school is probably the Ryder Cup, being a part of the team, being part of Team Europe was amazing. It was really cool and something that I'll never forget.

The worst thing -- it's a good question. I feel like I'm a positive person. I feel like even though something bad is happening, I still feel like because I'm a rookie, I see those as kind of a learning curve. Whether it's a missed cut or a bad round or a bad tournament or whatever, it's a part of it. It's a part of playing golf and professional sports.

I wouldn't say I have a moment where I'm like, ooh, that was awful, I don't think.

Q. You're obviously new to the Playoffs this year, but would you like to see the events rotate to different courses every year, like the BMW moves around? Would you like to see FedEx and this week move around?

LUDVIG ABERG: I mean, I love Castle Pines. I thought it was great. I thought it was an awesome golf course.

Memphis is a really good golf course, too. It's very true. It's very fair. If you play well and you hit good golf shots, you're going to get rewarded; and if you don't, you're going to get punished.

I think that's the way a good golf course should be. Like I said, it's my first time playing these events, so I don't really whether it would be better to play somewhere else. I don't have the experience, so I don't know.

All I know is that Castle Pines was an awesome golf course.

Q. As you come to the end of your first full season out here, just wondering how you're feeling physically and mentally kind of assessing the season?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, absolutely. It's been fun. I still consider myself a rookie, even though it's my second year or whatever. But yeah, it's been awesome to play all these big events, have a full season under my belt, and have a lot of cool experiences.

I am looking forward to a little bit of a break, but I'm also looking forward to a good finish here at East Lake.

Q. Along those lines about taking a break, how much do you anticipate playing in the fall?

LUDVIG ABERG: I'm probably going to kick my feet up quite a bit, make sure that I've got some time to recover, got some time to work on a few things, and I'll definitely go play the DP World Tour in Abu Dhabi, Dubai. Those are my plans right now. It might change. But that's where I'm at right now.

Q. As far as next year, do you anticipate playing a similar schedule or try to get to some of the courses you haven't played yet?

LUDVIG ABERG: It'll be somewhat similar. I'm not sure at the moment. I think once this week is over, we'll sit down, we'll reflect, we'll analyze and see if what we did was a good thing or if we wanted to do something different. I would assume it's going to be somewhat similar, but there might be a few events that we want to add or something like that.

Q. Are you still in Tallahassee with a roommate?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, we're still there. We're actually looking for other places. I think Vinny, my roommate, my landlord, is kind of tired of me. I think he wants me out. We're kind of looking for other places, which is good to have this time coming up and kind of get those things down because you don't want to move and feel like you want to do it in between tournaments.

You want to make sure you have the time and find the right things and the right place.

Q. Speaking of time off, what do you do to relax?

LUDVIG ABERG: I mean, luckily for me, the Premier League football just started, so I'm going to watch a lot of football, soccer. I'm going to hang out with my friends. My girlfriend is coming over, as well.

I just like to be at home, like to do normal things, go out, hang out. We'll do plenty of that.

Q. Do you have any non-golf travel plans?

LUDVIG ABERG: I don't, actually. I'm definitely going to go home to Sweden for a little bit at some point, whether that's later in the fall or before Christmas. But I definitely want to go home, see some friends and family and those things.