It’s been a big two days for Ludvig Aberg.
On Sunday, the 23-year-old rising star from Sweden earned his first professional victory on the DP World Tour at the 2023 Omega European Masters. A few hours later Monday morning he was selected as one of Luke Donald’s six captain’s picks for the upcoming 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.
“He is the latest winner on the DP World Tour and showed yesterday (in Switzerland) that he has the potential to be one of golf’s superstars,” said Donald as he announced the pick.
Aberg won the 2023 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans Montana, Switzerland, in just his sixth professional start on the European-based circuit. The former No. 1 amateur and four-year star at Texas Tech became the first player in history to earn PGA Tour membership via PGA Tour University earlier this season and made his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open. This season on Tour, the former star at Texas Tech has four top-25 finishes in seven starts, including a T-4 at the John Deere Classic.
“If you would have told me a couple of months ago that I was gonna be in these conversations I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” said Aberg. “Obviously super, super fortunate to be in this position and I can’t thank the captain and the vice-captains enough.”
“It’s been quite a lot these last couple of months but it’s been so exciting and I can’t wait for Rome.”
“I really do have a lot of faith and belief in Ludvig. I think he’s a generational player. He’s gonna be around a long time and he’s gonna do amazing things,” Donald added. “If he wasn’t going to play this one, he was going to play the next eight Ryder Cups. That’s how good I think he is.”
“He proved to us on Sunday with his grit and determination, he’s such a cool cucumber, too,” Donald continued. “He just goes about his business so easily and doesn’t take much time. He has a great way about him.”
Donald played with Aberg in Detroit earlier this summer at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic and “was blown away by his game.” As the young Swede continued to progress, Donald challenged him to go to Europe and play a few weeks.
More: Meet the 12 players and captains representing Team Europe at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy
“He showed his metal by committing to come over here the last two weeks,” Donald said. “If he didn’t perform very well then it would have been a different story, but he did. He performed when he needed to.”
The hype around Aberg and the Ryder Cup started with his early success on Tour and blossomed with the Rocket Mortgage pairing. Donald and Co. may have foreshadowed his selection last week when Aberg was paired with European vice captains Nicolas Colsaerts and Edoardo Molinari for the first two rounds at the European Masters.
Aberg will be one of four debutants for Donald’s side in Italy alongside Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Sepp Straka.
“I think it’s fine to have rookies in a Ryder Cup. My first one in 2004, you always want that chance to shine. I think 2004 we had five rookies and you know how that result ended,” said Donald, referring to Europe’s 18½-9½ shellacking of the Americans at Oakland Hills in Michigan. “There’s nothing wrong in having these young fresh guys going in there to battle. They are a strong pedigree of golfers, (Aberg), Nicolai, these are the future of European golf.”