Everything about Ludvig Aberg seems choke-proof. His robotic golf swing. His calm demeanour. His lightning-fast pace of play. The way he seems to always be in a good mood, whether he’s stuck in neutral or shooting 63, as he did on Friday at the Players Championship. This combination of golf qualities is something Rory McIlroy admires in the young Swede.
“Once he gets over the ball, he’s really decisive,” McIlroy said after finishing his week Sunday at TPC Sawgrass. “He’s obviously got a beautiful swing. Looks like he plays with a lot of freedom.
“Watching a little bit of the golf yesterday afternoon, he’s always smiling out there. He looks like he finds a lot of joy in playing the game, and it looks like he and Joe [Skovron], his caddie, always have good conversations and a good laugh out there, and that’s important, as well.”
RELATED: The prize money payout at the 2026 Players Championship
And that’s coming from a five-time major champion. A future member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. McIlroy is far from the only peer to heap praise on the 26-year-old, who everyone has projected big things from since his college days at Texas Tech.
Sunday was supposed to be one of those big things, a coronation of sorts. Aberg already had two wins on the PGA Tour, including in a signature event at Torrey Pines. But this is the Players Championship, not a major, but one that has looked and felt like one for years. Aberg led by three entering the final round, his closest competitor Michael Thorbjornsen, another budding young star who, in fairness, lacked big-event experience. While there were some more seasoned players in the chaser role, they’d need something special, and they’d need Aberg to go backward.
That is exactly what happened, a somewhat stunning turn of events given how composed Aberg looked all week, at a golf course where he plays his offseason golf. Of course, not that stunning to anyone who has watched the PGA Tour over the last two weeks in Florida. There is no choke-proof player. No “safe” lead. Closing out meaningful events on difficult courses is still (*checks notes*) extremely difficult for everyone who is not prime Tiger Woods.
How the hell did it go so wrong? How was it that Cameron Young, who started the day four shots behind Aberg, won the championship and beat him by four shots? Well, it started late Saturday, and maybe even a little earlier than that.
12th hole, Round 3
After going out in even par 36 on Saturday, then making par on the 10th, Aberg appeared to fully take control of the golf tournament at the par-5 11th, a hole he picked apart in Rounds 1 and 2, making birdie both days. On Saturday, after pounding a 326-yard drive up the right side of the fairway, Aberg ripped a long iron onto the green and set up a 17-footer for eagle. He drained it, which got him to 14 under, at the time five clear of his playing partner, Xander Schauffele. There was still a ton of golf to be played and plenty of guys making moves, but it felt like a potential championship-defining moment, the one they play on “Live From” Sunday when they discuss the specific shot that propelled Aberg to victory.
That storyline was seemingly about to play out when Aberg, at the short par-4 12th, hit his drive into a bunker but then splashed his approach to eight feet, setting up a great look at birdie. Aberg missed, and over the next 24 hours, the vibe shifted dramatically.
16th hole, Round 3
Aberg made three consecutive pars following the 12th on some of the trickier holes on Sawgrass’s back nine. Then came the par-5 16th, which remains one of the ultimate birdie opportunities at the Pete Dye gem provided you hit the fairway. Aberg did just that, leaving him with a 193-yard approach shot into the green. For Aberg, a 7-iron.
Aberg, who moves quickly and confidently, hesitated on the approach, something he admitted during his post-round press conference. That hesitation led to a dead pull into the long, thick rough left of the green.
“I kind of felt like I had to get a lot out of it,” Aberg said. “Those are the ones that really annoy me. I would love to have those back.”
You don’t get them back out here, sadly. Aberg chunked his chip from the rough, but was able to get up and down for par. But it proved to be a costly mistake, a chance to pull away further squandered.
Ben Jared
18th hole, Round 3
At this point, pars were good, but Aberg did hit it to eight feet at the 17th, then missed another birdie putt. Off to the 18th tee he went with water lurking on the left, and Aberg was his stoic self, piping one 312 yards down the middle and hitting his approach 25 feet above the hole. A dangerous spot, but he’d rolled it beautifully on the greens all week. Inexplicably, Aberg three-putted, rolling the birdie effort seven feet by and missing the comebacker. Standing in the 16th fairway, you could have penciled in Aberg for birdie-par-par, which would have given him a five-shot lead heading into Sunday. Instead, he led by only three, opening the door for a host of top players who were within five strokes at eight under, otherwise known as striking distance at TPC Sawgrass.
Round 4
One of those top players in striking distance was Cameron Young, who similarly stumbled late in his third round at the 18th. Young, sitting at 11 under and poised to play alongside Aberg in the final group, pulled his drive into the water and made a messy double bogey. While he was still within four, it was a crushing blow.
Young started strong with a birdie at No. 1 on Sunday, but it was his playing partner, Matt Fitzpatrick, who really came out swinging, making three birdies in the first four holes to thrust himself into the picture. Aberg, meanwhile, came out of the gates slow, stealing a birdie at the par-5 second but immediately giving it back at the fourth. He parred the remaining holes on the front nine, as did Fitzpatrick, meaning the lead was now only two with nine to play.
10th hole, Round 4
Then came what proved to be the sneakiest birdie of the day, and it didn’t come from Fitzy. It came from Young, who poured in a 14-footer on a hole that ranked the fourth-hardest in the tournament. He was now even with Fitzpatrick, who made par, while Aberg was back in the right rough.
11th hole, Round 4
It all came crashing down for Aberg at the par-5 11th, a hole he brought to its knees over the first three days, playing in four under. He was well on his way to making it five under after a 306-yard drive to the left part of the fairway, but he made the worst swing of the week at the worst possible time on his second shot, blocking it a mile into the water hazard right of the green. The ensuing bogey kept him one clear of Fitzpatrick and Young, who both parred the gettable hole. But the lead wouldn’t last.
Ludvig Aberg finds water on 11, leads to bogey.
Now tied for lead with Matt Fitzpatrick.pic.twitter.com/oFXFJsVvia
— Underdog Golf (@UnderdogGolf) March 15, 2026
12th hole, Round 4
The cool, calm, collected Aberg was anything but on the 12th tee, where he did something it seems like he never does: he pressed. He got quick. He tried to get the shot, he dropped back in one swing, taking driver when a simple layup likely leads to par and keeps him tied for the lead with Fitzpatrick, who was up ahead making birdie to reach 12 under. After he and Young cleared out, Aberg snap-hooked one so badly into the water down the left side that he had to drop where the water begins, leaving a 171-yard approach for his third. Aberg went on to make a double bogey, while Fitzpatrick and Young were both making birdie at the par-3 13th, rendering his tournament over.
Back-to-back holes with water balls for Ludvig Åberg.
Once leading today by 3, he now trails by 3.
📺 NBC | @THEPLAYERS pic.twitter.com/XGMtM67nK9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 15, 2026
“It got away from me quick there,” Aberg said of the 11th hole and the debacle at 12th that came after. “It was just poor swings. I felt like I’ve had that sort of 7-wood right miss a few times this week, on No. 4, especially twice, and it came up on 11 as well.
“Then tried to press a little bit on 12, hitting driver, where sometimes you can play 3-wood a little short of that bunker.”
After the round, Aberg was asked if the 11th hole went a little differently, would he have laid up on No. 12.
“I don’t know, maybe. We had sort of a game plan as driver would be an option, and today obviously the wind was a little bit different from what we’ve had, and it was a good wind for it,” he said.
“But yeah, it was a poor swing, a really poor swing, and it definitely stings a little bit.”
After the bogey-double bogey stretch, Aberg’s chances of winning were slim, but he gave it a good effort. He nearly chipped in for birdie on the 13th and came up one revolution short of a birdie at 14, then came one final dream-killing bogey at the 15th. The choke-proof player had officially coughed it up, making him now 1-for-4 on converting with the 54-hole lead. Proof that as unflappable as he looks, even the cyborgs succumb to the heat.
“Definitely felt nerves this morning,” he said. “I felt nerves yesterday and I felt nerves on Thursday and Friday as well.
“I think the main thing for me is I think about winning, but I try not to get ahead of myself when I’m playing golf. I think the front nine we handled quite well. I felt like we handled it to the point where it definitely could have been few shots better here and there. It was just a disappointing back nine, and hopefully I’ll do a little bit better next time.”
RELATED: Cameron Young rallies late to win at TPC Sawgrass