Contending at The Genesis Invitational three weeks after health setback

SAN DIEGO – Ludvig Åberg lost 8 pounds with a mystery illness that started at the Farmers Insurance Open here at Torrey Pines three weeks ago, he said Friday.

The stomach bug morphed into body aches and chills, and after shooting an opening-round 77 he withdrew from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am the following week.

“It was rough for a while,” Åberg said after shooting a 6-under 66 in the second round of The Genesis Invitational at its fill-in home of Torrey Pines. “It started – Round 1 was fine, Round 2 was fine, and I sort of woke up in the middle of the night … and I started throwing up and I started all these things and it wasn't very enjoyable.”

At 4-under total, Åberg is just four back of solo 36-hole leader Davis Thompson.

In a sense, Åberg has unfinished business at Torrey Pines, which he calls one of his favorite courses on the PGA TOUR. He’s been looking forward to coming back.

Although he had shot an opening-round 63 at the Farmers three weeks ago, Åberg faded and wound up finishing T42. He didn’t make it that far at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“It sort of was OK for a couple days,” he said, “and then at Pebble it kind of shifted to like feverish and almost like body aches and shivering. First, I was really hot, then I got really cold. Lost about 8 pounds total in two days, so that's not the right way to lose weight.”

Åberg, the world No. 6, said he still isn’t entirely sure what he had, whether it was a simple case of food poisoning or something more nuanced.

“It was nice to get a week off last week and sort of just eat as much as I could to get back to training as normal, working out is normal,” he said. “I'm still trying to build the weight up a little bit. I'm not quite where I started, say, Wednesday at Farmers.

“Probably got a couple pounds left to gain,” he added, “but getting there.”