Media Center Interviews
April 2, 2024
Pre-Tournament Interview with Ludvig Åberg
JOHN BUSH: Like to welcome Ludvig Åberg into the interview room, making his second career start at the Valero Texas Open, first as a professional.
Ludvig, welcome back to San Antonio, if we can get some comments on being here this week.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, thank you. We were just talking about, played here two years ago as an amateur and also played a college tournament here a couple years ago. It's nice to come back to a course where I've actually played some tournament rounds on, a little bit more familiarity. The course is looking great. I think it will be a good week.
JOHN BUSH: You have three top-10s so far this year in seven starts, including most recently eighth place at the PLAYERS Championship. If we can get some comments on your season up to this point.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, no, it's been great. First off, I've been able to play these bigger events, which has been kind of my goal ever since I turned professional, so it's been nice to be able to test the waters doing so. Feel like I've been playing pretty good. I haven't really put together four great rounds so far I think in these tournaments, but it's something that I've been wanting to do and something that I'm sure I'll just keep going and do that in the future.
Q. You've had a chance to sort of sort through your schedule a little bit better maybe since you won the RSM. Do you have an idea of how many weeks you want to play in a row? Do you want to play a week before a major? Are you getting a better handle on what works best for you?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I feel like I play better and better the more I play up until a point where I get tired basically. So it's always going to be a little bit of a balance and I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out at this moment. But I do feel like the more I play, I get into tournament mode a little quicker.
And I've been trying to use these off weeks a little bit better than I have in the past. Last year I didn't have that many off weeks, we just played, played, played, but this year it's been a little bit more. I've been fortunate to be able to take a few weeks off. What I want to do is I guess I want to improve coming back after those off weeks a little bit sharper and being ready to play.
Q. When do you get tired?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Probably week four, five I would think. I'd like to think I'm still young, I'm still able to play a lot, but I think we haven't really set the schedule that, you know, so far for the rest of the season, but I would think I'm playing somewhere around three or four events in a row.
Q. Have you found what works best for you playing the week before a big event, maybe THE PLAYERS Championship, obviously you're playing the Masters next week?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think so. I think it goes a little bit and hand in hand with what I said in terms of I just keep playing better and better the more I play. That was one of the main reasons why I want to play before my first major, I feel like that's the best for me. Hopefully, you know, I have a long career ahead of me and I'm just trying to figure these things out as soon as I can.
Q. And this specific event being close -- well, not close to Lubbock but being in Texas, is there a comfort level here at all?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Oh, absolutely. I was just in Lubbock these last couple days and came down from Lubbock to here. It's nice being back in Texas. We're going to have a lot of family coming down, or not family but friends and close friends and people from Tech. There's going to be a lot of good people here.
Q. Ludvig, just want to ask you how do you feel about the strength of the field at this event?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, it will be great. I mean, obviously all the Tour events are great, the competition is really hard. Obviously you need to play well to put yourself in a position to win and that's what I'm trying to do. Looking forward to it.
Q. Sorry if you've been asked this already, but how does the course look so far from what you've been able to gather? How do you think it'll play this week?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, we just played nine holes this morning, it looks great. It's firming up a little bit from what it looked like yesterday where we just chipped and putted. I think the wind makes it tricky. I think the wind is going to switch around a little bit over the next couple days, but it's great. I've had a couple of experiences here playing and it's not an easy course, it's going to be pretty tough, but it will be really fun to play.
Q. How does it change a guy's mindset this week to have obviously one of the Signature Events of the Tour coming up next week? Does that change anything about this tournament compared to if it falls somewhere else on the calendar?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Not for me, I always like to play well when I'm at a tournament, I try not to get ahead of myself. My focus is here this week, whatever happens next week I can't really control that at this moment. All I can do is try to prepare as good as I can for Thursday and be ready to compete and play.
Q. Obviously you had quite a bit of experience and you've got your feet under you, but first Masters coming up, just wondering, you had your first Ryder Cup a couple months back, what's the lead-up like, what's the excitement like, what's going through your mind as you're getting ready for your first Masters?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: It is a lot of excitement. It's definitely going to be nerve wracking, definitely going to be nervous, but the Masters is the Masters, we all know that. It's a tournament that I've watched ever since I started playing golf and all these things from when I grew up. It will be nervous as any other tournament basically, but obviously my first major's going to be really special. I'll have close family, I'll have my girlfriend, I'll have some friends over as well. I think we're all going to enjoy it and just have a good week.
JOHN BUSH: The Olympics later this year, is that something that's on your mind right now or is that too far away at this point?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: It's definitely in the back of my mind. It's not in the front of my mind, I guess. The Olympics is something I would be very, very honored and proud to be a part of representing my country and playing on a golf course that I've actually played before. I think that would be really, really cool to be a part of.
But once again, my focus isn't necessarily there right now. We'll deal with that whenever that comes around, I guess.
JOHN BUSH: Anything else? Ludvig, thanks for your time, best of luck this week.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Thank you.
