Ludvig Åberg says knee is 'all good' at PGA Championship
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ludvig Åberg said lingering knee soreness that kept him out of the Wells Fargo Championship last week will not be an issue at this week’s PGA Championship.
The world No. 6 Åberg, who finished second at the Masters Tournament in his very first major start last month, allowed that he is wearing a brace as a precautionary measure.
“Knee's good,” said Åberg, 24. “It was more of a safety concern last week that I didn't play. I'm consulting with my doctors, and I trust them with everything that I have, so it's not bothering me at all this week, and I look forward to playing. I'm wearing a brace just for safety reasons, but it's nothing that's bothering me. I'm focusing on the golf.”
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The Wells Fargo was the first tournament Åberg has missed for health reasons, he said, adding that he stayed home to prep for this week and watched a bit of Rory McIlroy’s victory on TV.
It’s only been a year since Åberg left Texas Tech and accepted his PGA TOUR card as the No. 1 player in the PGA TOUR University Ranking. Since then, his ascent has been rocket-like. Åberg won the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters, went 2-2-0 for the winning European Ryder Cup team, and won The RSM Classic, the PGA TOUR’s final event of 2023.
Other than atypical results in Hawaii, where he did not crack the top 25 in either of the first two tournaments of this season, his play on TOUR has continued to belie his youth and inexperience. He finished T10 in his last start at the RBC Heritage; that was the week after finishing second at the Masters in his first look at Augusta National. He hasn’t been out of the top 25 since January.
Åberg said he likes the look of Valhalla so far, and will be leaning on his caddie Joe Skovron, who was on Rickie Fowler’s bag when Fowler tied for third at the 2014 PGA at Valhalla.
“Obviously they have added some length since,” Åberg said, “so a few of those holes are a little bit different. But from what I've understood, the green areas are very similar, and it looks like it's going to be a little bit wet towards the weekend, and hopefully, you know, we'll be able to hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens.”
Åberg will go off the 10th hole with Xander Schauffele and two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas of nearby Goshen, Kentucky, at 7:53 a.m. Thursday.
Cameron Morfit is a Staff Writer for the PGA TOUR. He has covered rodeo, arm-wrestling, and snowmobile hill climb in addition to a lot of golf. Follow Cameron Morfit on Twitter.