Ludvig Aberg was looking for his first PGA Tour victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship, but lost in a five-man playoff behind the bravery of rival Luke List.
European Ryder Cup star Ludvig Aberg was denied a first PGA Tour win in dramatic fashion after Luke List won at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Aberg and List were part of a five-man playoff at the FedEx Cup fall event, along with Henrik Norlander, Ben Griffin and Scott Stallings. All five players finished 18-under in their four rounds, ensuring a 73rd hole of the week was needed to win the championship.
On the extra hole, Norlander and Stallings failed to reach the green in two rounds after coming up short on their approach shots. Griffin, Aberg and List all found the putting surface, and it was List who made the remarkable shot. From 45 feet, List made a great putt across the green from right to left, before seeing it drop into the hole, putting pressure on his opponent. Aberg and his colleagues were unable to keep up with the American, ensuring that it was List who walked away with his second PGA Tour victory.
About his tournament-winning putt, List said:
“Just to have a chance to make the playoffs, I was like, ‘Wow, okay, this is a gift.’ Then my thinking changed to, ‘Okay, let’s try to make a birdie any way we can.’ I didn’t hit the best (approach) shot, but I told my caddy ‘I’m doing this’ and somehow I pulled it off.
While this may have been a missed opportunity for Aberg, his impressive performance in Mississippi continues his meteoric rise. The Swede only chose to turn professional in June, but since then he hasn’t looked back, exploding on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and most impressively, the European Tour Ryder Cup team. In a bid to break into Luke Donald’s squad last month, the youngster headed to Europe, where he won his first event as a professional at the Omega European Masters , just 24 hours before being called up to the European team. Just four weeks later, Aberg won the Ryder Cup in Rome, earning two points on his debut, including a record 9 and 7 victory alongside Viktor Hovland over Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
It was just days after Aberg returned to the PGA Tour, and despite missing out on his first win, he was happy with his playing status just four months into his professional career. “I feel like I’m playing well,” Aberg said after the second draw.
“I’m swinging it beautifully. For me, coming here to play after Rome was something I wanted to do, and obviously I think Thursday’s round set the tone a bit. It’s nice to see the good points come in and then I move on. Luckily, today I was pretty close to the top spot in the final.”
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