[PHOTO: Sam Greenwood]
Talk about staying cool. Ludvig Aberg slept on a 54-hole lead for the first time in his young PGA Tour career, played the front nine in 30 then kept his challengers at bay to win his first PGA Tour title at the RSM Classic with a second-straight 61 on the Seaside course at Sea Island Golf Club.
If Aberg, a 24-year-old rookie from Sweden, felt any nerves on the final day, he didn’t show it. Early on he proved he was up to the task when he dropped a 26-footer for birdie at the fourth hole then cut the dogleg on the par-4 fifth, driving the green with a 306-metre blast that led to an easy two-putt birdie.
By the end of the week, Aberg ranked first in strokes gained/off the tee, second in driving distance and sixth in driving accuracy with is 9-degree Titleist TSR2 driver with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft.
“I do feel like off the tee as one of my strengths,” Aberg said after the third round. “I like hitting driver, I feel like I do that quite well so I try to use it as much as I can.”
The start of something great: Ludvig Aberg claims first PGA Tour win at the RSM Classic
On the incoming nine, Aberg made his first (and only) bogey of the week on the 12th hole. He recovered with a steely up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the par-5 15th hole that kept his lead at two shots. The combination of Aberg’s Titleist Vokey wedges and Titleist Pro V1x golf ball helped him rank T-3 in scrambling for the week.
Aberg spoke to Titleist reps earlier this year about the attributes of the golf ball he was looking for as he began his pro career in June. “I like to put spin on the ball,” he said. “I like to hit it a little bit higher to have a little bit of a different angle coming into the firmer greens that we play here on the PGA Tour. I think the Pro V1x helps me with that.”
Aberg grew up playing at Eslöv Golf Club in Sweden and even as a youngster was a fan of Titleist balls. “I would always go into the woods and look for [Pro V1s],” he said. “And every time you found a new one, found a really nice one, that was like the best feeling. I used to have a ball bag of all my Pro V1s that I found. Every once in a while, you got to go into the pro shop and get a new one, but it didn’t happen very often. Now we’re super spoiled. We get new balls every now and then. So, it’s really cool and I’ve played it for a very long time.”
Winning his first PGA Tour title was really cool as well.
What Ludvig Aberg had in the bag at the RSM Classic:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TSR2 (Fujikura Ventus Black 6X), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2, 15 degrees
Irons (2): Titleist 718 T-MB; (4-9): Titleist T100; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM9
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50, 54 degrees); Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot Versa 1
