Masters 2024: Ludvig Åberg’s trajectory, Tiger Woods’ struggles, Rory McIlroy’s struggles lead to nine final thoughts
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Ludvig Åberg was hampered behind trees on the left side of the 15th hole. He was late to Scottie Scheffler and knew he needed something special. As he and caddy Joe Skovron discussed their options, they both started giggling.
The 68th hole in the first professional tournament of his career, in the hunt for a Masters championship on Augusta National’s second nine, but instead of looking around with bewilderment and concern, he He just quietly chuckled about a joke he and Skovron shared.
Ludvig Åberg is different.
This time last year, he was competing in events like the Thunderbird Collegiate and the Calusa Cup. He now has the experience of co-leading the Masters on Sunday. Although he made a pit stop at the Ryder Cup in September, this is not a normal trajectory for a young golfer.
Åberg is somewhat reminiscent of Alex Honnold, the notable free solo climber who was the first to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Honnold performed extraordinary, death-defying feats but never seemed to feel the way normal people would feel. Åberg, as Jim Nantz noted on the CBS broadcast, picked up a burrito bowl on his way to the course Sunday with the second-to-last tee time at the first major of the year.
That’s not normal!
“First of all, playing at Augusta National is a dream come true,” Åberg said. “Just being in this situation and feeling the tension and pressure going down the final holes is something you dream about. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and it’s so surreal to actually get to do it.” opportunity to experience it but I’m so proud of myself and everyone on my team, my family and everyone involved.”
Åberg can now say he has lost to only one golfer in his major championship career. And that golfer happens to be a great in this generation. When the stakes are high, Åberg seems to get better. He is third in shot attempts behind Bryson DeChambeau and 2024 Masters champion Scottie Scehffler this week. If you hit well in a windy and stormy week like this one, you’re — I can’t stress this enough — one knocker.
The scary thing about Åberg is that he’s getting better and he wants it all.
“It’s nice to see such performance on this stage and knowing that I can hit certain shots and hit the putt the way I want to, it’s very encouraging and I want do that.” over and over again,” he said.
Here are seven other thoughts on the 88th Masters.
Tiger’s grinding finish
There’s a line about Tiger Woods week that really impressed me. It comes from Shotgun Start Podcast. Brendan Porath said something about Tiger as follows: Nowadays, he seems to enjoy playing tournaments as much as he used to enjoy winning tournaments. That seems right. Record of 24 consecutive Masters made cuts Woods’ achievements seem to mean something to him.
He has no juice, no lower body and no sharpness to draw from. In other words, today’s Tigers have no chance of beating the Schefflers of the world. But he still enjoys playing and grinding as much as his broken body allows. That’s admirable, and while it can be difficult to watch, it’s easy to appreciate the weeks when his body can get through all 72 holes of a major championship.
Rory’s struggles continue
If there was one moment that defined Rory McIlroy’s week it was on Friday at the 11th hole. He played Scheffler for the second round in a row after saying this about the world’s No. 1 golfer just one day before.
“Scottie did a great job … it didn’t look like it was under par 6, and in the end, it was under par 6. He worked really well with everything,” McIlroy said Thursday. “If you look at Scottie compared to the rest of the field, the number of bogey-free rounds he plays and he shoots is phenomenal, and that’s the secret to winning major championships and winning golf tournaments The big thing was limiting mistakes rather than making a lot of birdies today, which was okay in these conditions, but just a little bit of a correction to try to keep up with him.”
To try to keep up with him.
It’s a huge task for anyone right now, but McIlroy has talent that most others don’t. Yet at the 11th hole on Friday, with the wind howling and conditions as difficult as they have been on this course, Scheffler found the bulk of the green on his approach with a low draw. McIlroy found the water with a very accurate approach shot.
It seems clear that Scottie took that shot and Rory didn’t. Of course, that’s just a generalization because we’ve had evidence over the years that McIlroy can hit a wide variety of shots. But from the perspective of golf tournaments, sometimes it seems like he picks bad courses or can’t hit the shots he should be hitting. That’s not always an issue outside of the majors, but when trying to beat the world No. 1 at the four biggest tournaments, it becomes a big problem.
“I think, with hitting, especially in winds like that, it really exposes any weaknesses you might have,” McIlroy said. That Friday definitely revealed some things.” “When the golf course changes here, you just have to be precise and this week I wasn’t precise enough.”
The weight of the master
When Nicolai Højgaard briefly touched the sun Saturday while leading with a birdie on the 10th hole, he was immediately eliminated from the event with five straight bogeys. To me, that says less about the 23-year-old Ryder Cupper and more about the importance of the Masters and Augusta National. When it touches you here, it access times Friend.
Max Homa said as much Saturday night after shooting 73 in Round 3: “Glad I made it through today. It was tough. I left the practice room and suddenly, the nerves hit me.” . I’m glad I did it.” a while ago.”
For Højgaard, there is no recovery this week, but he will carry an extraordinary amount of experience with him for the rest of his career. That’s invaluable at that age and he’ll be more prepared to handle it next time. But that moment, those 90 minutes, said more about this tournament than about his ability or his future.
The competition is going on
Scheffler has lost one golfer since March 1. A legitimate, modern-day major is certainly on the table. The bettor has odds of 80-1, which is an extremely low number considering how difficult it is to achieve. If you want to call it the Scottie Slam and go for the Players Championship, like I do, he’s already 40% of the way there. This is sustainable. He may not win them all, but he’s not playing at a clip he can’t maintain. We are in the midst of one Historical activities are difficult to contextualize while it’s happening — that always happens, right? — but Scheffler’s trajectory right now is that he will become one of the top 20 players of all time.
Neal Shipley’s special week
Shipley not only almost escaped In reaching the final of the U.S. Amateur against Nick Dunlap last summer to enter the Masters, he was also the only amateur to qualify, thus capturing the silverware at lowly. best at Augusta National. And as if all that weren’t enough, he also has to take on Tiger on Sunday in the Big Cat’s 100 laps around this field. Try your best. They don’t paint it that way — even in the movies. his caddy Could have had an even better week!
Homa has the best line in golf
Homa had the biggest week of his life with a T3 finish, but he was an even better character throughout his life. When he spoke Saturday night about trying to mentally balance the tournament and the week, he offered what, for me, was probably the quote of the week.
“If I find myself thinking about things that could go wrong, I let myself dream about things that could go right.”
Homa becomes easy to cheer for because he lets people into his world in a way most players don’t and wears his heart on his sleeve. I don’t know if he won a major championship, but I do know that the on-field patrons supported him as much – maybe even more – than anyone else in the tournament.
Augusta National Rules
What a week this golf course has been. It’s perfect and it’s a pleasure to watch golf play here. Even earlier in the week, golfers were discussing how much enjoyment they got from hitting creative, fun shots on the course. And then we get to watch that play out over four wild rounds in this tournament.
This isn’t necessarily an indictment of the PGA Tour’s frequent stops because those courses are up against one of the great courses in the world. But to see a course set up quickly, firmly and with pins that really require imagination and thoughtfulness is an absolute delight.
Golf rules major championships, and this year’s Augusta National saw all the extra factors — wind, dry conditions over the past three days, among them — to make the match even. Even better than usual.
