Ludvig Åberg reveals why he didn’t make East Lake debut in school

ATLANTA — Name it a COVID casualty.

4 years in the past, as a sophomore at Texas Tech, Ludvig Åberg appeared primed to characterize the Pink Raiders on the East Lake Cup, a collegiate competitors held at East Lake each fall. The Atlanta-area course hosts 4 prime males’s and ladies’s groups yearly, because the match takes after the NCAA Championship.

However Åberg couldn’t take part as a result of unusual instances we lived by.

“The week earlier than [the East Lake Cup], my roommate received COVID, however I used to be wholesome and match, however on account of contact tracing, or no matter they known as it again then, so I couldn’t go,” Åberg stated Tuesday forward of the Tour Championship.

“I used to be at residence watching it, and I bear in mind it was robust.”

Pepperdine College received the crew competitors that yr, whereas Patrick Welch, who now performs on the Korn Ferry Tour, took residence particular person honors as an Oklahoma Sooner.

Alas, that has pressured Åberg to make his East Lake debut 4 years later than initially anticipated.

“I’ve appeared ahead to it for a very long time,” Åberg stated.

Photograph by Harry How/Getty Photographs

“I’ve watched this match for a very long time.”

The 24-year-old Swede arrives in Atlanta because the fifth-ranked participant within the FedEx Cup standings. Due to the beginning strokes format the Tour Championship now employs, Åberg will begin at 5-under-par. Scottie Scheffler, the present chief of the FedEx Cup standings, will start at 10-under, two pictures away from Xander Schauffele, who’s second.

However this handicapped format doesn’t change Åberg’s method this week.

“I don’t suppose it’ll change an excessive amount of for me. It’s nonetheless a 72-hole golf match. I haven’t seen the golf course, so I don’t actually know play it if choices are to be made,” Åberg stated.

“However you’ve nonetheless received to go play actually good golf, aggressive golf, if you’d like an opportunity to win, which in the end that’s what we would like. We’ll nonetheless provide you with an excellent recreation plan. Every time you’ve gotten the chance to be aggressive, at any time when there’s a time to be aggressive to a extra conservative spot, that’s what we’re going to do. I believe it relies on the setup. It relies on the format. However I don’t suppose it actually modifications the place you begin within the match.”

Fortunately for Åberg, everybody should be taught the golf course this week. East Lake underwent an entire restoration after final yr’s Tour Championship, received by Viktor Hovland. So, if COVID-19 had not impacted Åberg’s look on the 2020 East Lake Cup, it possible wouldn’t have executed him any good for this week anyway.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You should definitely take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.