Ludvig Åberg should have played at East Lake a few years ago in college, but he revealed why he did not do so before the Tour Championship.
ATLANTA — Call it a COVID casualty.
Four years ago, as a sophomore at Texas Tech, Ludvig Åberg looked primed to represent the Red Raiders at the East Lake Cup, a collegiate competition held at East Lake every fall. The Atlanta-area course hosts four top men’s and women’s teams annually, as the tournament takes after the NCAA Championship.
But Åberg could not participate due to the strange times we lived through.
“The week before [the East Lake Cup], my roommate got COVID, but I was healthy and fit, but due to contact tracing, or whatever they called it back then, so I couldn’t go,” Åberg said Tuesday ahead of the Tour Championship.
“I was at home watching it, and I remember it was tough.”
Pepperdine University won the team competition that year, while Patrick Welch, who now plays on the Korn Ferry Tour, took home individual honors as an Oklahoma Sooner.
Alas, that has forced Åberg to make his East Lake debut four years later than initially anticipated.
“I’ve looked forward to it for a long time,” Åberg said.
“I’ve watched this tournament for a long time.”
The 24-year-old Swede arrives in Atlanta as the fifth-ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings. Thanks to the starting strokes format the Tour Championship now employs, Åberg will start at 5-under-par. Scottie Scheffler, the current leader of the FedEx Cup standings, will begin at 10-under, two shots clear of Xander Schauffele, who is second.
But this handicapped format does not change Åberg’s approach this week.
“I don’t think it will change too much for me. It’s still a 72-hole golf tournament. I haven’t seen the golf course, so I don’t really know how to play it if decisions are to be made,” Åberg said.
“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, 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.”
Luckily for Åberg, everyone will have to learn the golf course this week. East Lake underwent a complete restoration after last year’s Tour Championship, won by Viktor Hovland. So, if COVID-19 had not impacted Åberg’s appearance at the 2020 East Lake Cup, it likely would not have done him any good for this week anyway.
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.
