Battle-tested Aberg ready to lead Europe's Ryder Cup charge
FILE PHOTO: Golf - European Tour - BMW PGA Championship - Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Britain - September 14, 2025 Sweden's Ludvig Aberg in action during the fourth round REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo
FARMINGDALE, New York :Sweden's Ludvig Aberg is feeling a greater sense of belonging ahead of his second Ryder Cup appearance this week, two years after a debut so spectacular it left world number one Scottie Scheffler in tears and rewrote the record books.
Aberg made history in 2023 as the first player to compete in a Ryder Cup before appearing in a major championship, but it was his performance alongside Viktor Hovland that truly announced his arrival on golf's biggest stage.
The European duo's 9&7 foursomes victory over Americans Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in Rome marked the largest margin of victory for an 18-hole match in Ryder Cup history, a result so emphatic it reduced the world's best player to tears.
"It's not something I think about," world number 16 Aberg told reporters on Wednesday at Bethpage Black.
"Obviously that day, it was somewhat of a freak result and something that we didn't quite expect. But it was a cool experience that me and Viktor had."
For Aberg, one of Luke Donald's captain's picks for the 2023 Ryder Cup less than four months into his professional career, the significance of the foursomes win went far beyond the record books.
The victory showed he belonged among golf's elite, having never even met his high-profile opponents before.
"The biggest thing that I take away from those couple days, and maybe especially that morning, was just the validation for myself, that I'm able to do that," said Aberg.
"Because obviously before I played in Rome, I hadn't even met those guys. I had never shaken their hands. I had never had a conversation with them."
ABERG NOW A KNOWN QUANTITY
Now Aberg returns to the biennial matchplay competition far from the unknown quantity he was two years ago and looking to help Europe retain the Ryder Cup with their first road win since 2012.
Aberg enters the Ryder Cup following a 2025 season during which he claimed his second PGA Tour title, finished in the top 10 at the Masters for a second consecutive year and earned a share of 21st at last month's Tour Championship.
No matter who Aberg faces this week at Bethpage Black, the 25-year-old Swede will be far from intimidated given what he accomplished at the 2023 Ryder Cup.
"For me to get there and to bring out a result like that was a big deal for me personally, to know that I'm able to beat those guys at times," said Aberg.
"I'm able to compete and play good golf against them. That's the biggest thing that I take away."
