Things did not come easy for the sweet-swinging Swedish phenom on Thursday at the RSM Classic.
In fact, the exact opposite happened.
Defending champion Ludvig Åberg carded a 3-over 73 during the first round, his first competitive start since he had knee surgery on a torn meniscus in September.
Remarkably, Åberg began his title defense with a birdie on the par-4 1st, as he stuck a wedge from 116 yards to 11 feet away and drained the putt. But then he made uncharacteristic mistakes. At the par-3 3rd, he left his approach short and in the sand trap, which led to his first dropped shot of the day. On the next hole, the par-4 4th, Åberg tugged his tee shot into the marsh, which led to his second straight bogey. Then, on the par-3 6th, with the wind whipping off the right, Åberg hit his approach long, as it skipped off the back of the green and down into a collection area. He then missed an eight-footer for par.
The 2023 Ryder Cup star shot a 2-over 37 on the front nine, then made his biggest blunder of the day on the 406-yard par-4 10th. He pushed his drive right into the penalty area. Then, after taking a drop, he fatted his wedge into the front right bunker that protects the green. He then compounded those mistakes by hitting a poor sand shot and proceeded to three-putt for a triple-bogey seven from 50 feet away. He suddenly sat at 5-over.
“It was hard. Obviously, it was a rough day,” Åberg said.
“It was a lot of rust, I felt like, but I also felt like the good was pretty good, but the bad was really bad.
Good on Åberg for keeping it positive in the face of adversity. But how he played his final eight holes speaks volumes about the 25-year-old star, too. He did so in 2-under, thanks to a 36-footer he drained on the par-3 12th and a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th. An all-world up-and-down on the par-3 17th kept him at 3-over overall.
“There’s some technical things that I’m working on in my swing,” Åberg added.
“I want to, I guess, load it a little bit better, and that’s where that miss comes with the driver. Both times where I put myself in trouble today, it was off the tee. If I can fix those things and get a little bit better, I think tomorrow will be a little bit nicer.”
The last time he played the Plantation Course at Sea Island, he carded a 5-under 67 in round one a year ago. He then posted 64-61-61 over the final three rounds on the Seaside Course, so the potential for Åberg to make those adjustments and go low on Friday is certainly there.
Yet, the former Texas Tech Red Raider is just happy to be back playing again because his knee had bothered him for months before his operation. But now, he’s feeling 100%, and that’s what is most important.
“A little bit of everything today,” Åberg said.
“But all in all, pretty happy to be back playing golf again.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
