THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome Ludvig Åberg to the interview center.
Ludvig, it's your first major championship, your first Masters. You secured a runner-up finish. Congratulations.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: Would you give us your thoughts on the experience, please.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, first of all, playing here at Augusta National is a dream come true. Just to be in this situation and feel the nerves and feel the pressure walking down the last couple holes is what you dream of. This is what I have been wanting to do for such a long time, and it's quite surreal to actually have the opportunity to experience it. But I'm so proud of me, myself and all of the people on my team and my family and everyone involved.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll take questions in both English and Swedish.
Q. Can you talk about -- you're a competitor, you always want to do the best, and I guess in your mind you always expect to do the best, but how great a result is this for you, and don't be humble, what do you see in the future for yourself?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I mean, I think as a competitor, you should expect those things from yourself, and that's the same with me. I felt like coming into this week, I felt like I was playing well and I was swinging the way I wanted to.
But, you know, there's so much more to golf. There's a lot of things that needs to come together, and I felt like we did a lot of golf stuff the last couple of weeks. We've been working on a few things, me and my team, my coaches. And it's nice to see that kind of come through on this stage and to know that I'm able to pull off a certain amount of shots and hit the putts the way I want to, and it's just very encouraging and I want to do it again and again I think.
Q. Can you talk about what you see yourself doing in the future? What are your goals? What are your dreams?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, everyone in my position, they are going to want to be major champions. They are going to want to be world No. 1s, and it's the same for me, and that's nothing different.
It's been that way ever since I picked up a golf club, and that hasn't changed. So I think this week solidifies a lot of those things are there, and we just need to keep doing those things and put ourselves in positions to win tournaments, I think.
Q. Ludvig, Scottie has shown himself to be the best player in the world for quite some time now. Has he reached the stage, you think, where his mere presence on the leaderboard makes a difference to those around him? What do you feel like today?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think maybe yes and no. I mean, obviously Scottie is an unbelievable golf player, and I think we all expect him to be there when it comes down to the last couple holes of a tournament. He's proven it again and again, and I think, you know, he makes us better. He makes you want to beat him, obviously, and, you know, that's the same for me and the same for everyone else in this field I think.
Q. You did a better job than anyone else of kind of staying with him, if you like. But were you aware of it was him rather than just someone else?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I keep an eye on the leaderboard. Every time you see a leaderboard, you look at it, and I think it's important to know what's at stake and how you're standing and all these things. Trying to figure out like, you know, what can you do on 15 and all these things, that's the same for me. I've always been that way. It was like that in college, too. You know, it just happens to be Scottie up there a lot.
Q. You double-bogey 11 and you come back with a solid tee ball on 12, birdie 13, birdie 14. Can you describe how you were able to regroup? What was the thought process there after what happened on 11 to then bounce back like you did?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, obviously it wasn't ideal to hit it in the water on 11, I think we all know that. I mean, I felt like me -- me and my team, we've focused a lot on just keep playing no matter what happens. I think if you just keep playing, skills are going to show up. I think once you stop playing, that's when you -- the skills are not showing up, and I think we did a great job of that.
It was a good example of just keep playing, just to make sure to keep the ball in front of you, and there's a lot of holes left to be played. I think me finishing well after those couple holes were pretty encouraging to see.
Q. Anybody watching you today who maybe was not that familiar with you, that wouldn't have known you were a first-timer here at Augusta, and they would have been maybe taken aback, surprised, at least, at how positively you played, how you seemed to not have any nerves. Was it the plan to kind of be positive, or was that just you?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think I've always tried to be positive. I think, you know, this place has so many nuances to it, so many subtle things off the greens and off the tee that I trust my caddie, Joe, a lot with, and he's helped me tremendously this week in terms of those things.
You know, we felt like we did a great job. It's a fine balance between being aggressive to the right spots and not being overly aggressive. Because you can put yourself in some really tough, tricky spots. I felt like we did good job all week of making sure that at least you have a chance of getting up-and-down and all these things.
I allude a lot to my caddie, Joe, for that.
Q. From Swedish point of view, what will you say is the success that Scandinavian athletes are having in sports in general, not just in golf?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I mean, I think Swedes and Scandinavians are doing quite well in sports. We're quite similar in terms of our, you know, culture in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland. We are quite similar. We work pretty hard, and I guess we are just having some success in sports, yeah.
Q. Obviously everybody is going to look at what happened at 11 and say it was a mistake. Could you talk us through what you and Joe were talking about on the second shot and what were you trying -- obviously you were trying to keep it on the ground but what were you trying do with that shot?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, it was 190 meters, I think, a little bit into off the right. So I've been playing that same shot all week where I basically aim just right of the right edge of the green and try to drive it -- or draw it in there.
I tried to do the same thing today, and it came out a little bit -- started just a little bit too far left and the wind caught it and hit it in the water. It was probably one of the few swings this week where I really put it in a bad spot where I knew I couldn't miss left and I missed it left.
But overall, I think a lot of the other things I did this week kind of oversees that one shot I think.
Q. And Peter Hanson said out there that he can't wait to see you in Kentucky for the PGA. Do you feel differently maybe going into a PGA now after having this under your belt than you would have if you had not had this experience?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think so. This being my first major championship, you never really know what it's going to be like until you're there and experience it. I think this week has given me a lot of experiences and a lot of lessons learned in terms of those things. It makes me really hungry, and it makes me want to do it again and again, I think.
Q. A couple of your Ryder Cup teammates this week have suggested that you're a future world No. 1 and it's obviously not an easy thing to achieve without that expectation but how do you feel when people like Rory McIlroy or Shane Lowry say these things about you?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Well, it's very flattering. It's very nice of them to say those things. They don't have to say those things. But I think, you know, to me, it just tells me that we are doing some good things, me and my team, and we're probably not going to change a whole lot. But obviously hearing those things from Rory and those guys is very, very encouraging.
Q. Walking up 18, it looked like Max turned around and said something. Would you mind sharing what he said, 200 yards off the tee or something. It looked like you guys laughed.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I can't really remember. I think he said something about the drive. I actually can't remember. It was something like that I think.
Q. You seem remarkably accepting of everything that happened to you today, the good and the bad, smiling and joking at times. But I'm just wondering, when you were walking off 18 green, you appeared to be quite emotional. Did it just hit you then what you achieved and what had happened during the day as you greeted your family and walked away?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I think so. I mean, obviously it's a challenge to play Augusta National. Like I said before, you can't really put your guard down. You have to stay focused all the time. I think once you hole out your last putt on 18 you can kind of breathe a little bit and that's what I did. Obviously coming up and seeing my family and my girlfriend and all these things coming up 18 was really cool.
Q. The media has the task of usually singling people out after successes like you've had today even though you didn't win. Are you comfortable with being the guy that's going to be, maybe a, the face of golf to some extent going forward, b, knowing that people are going to talk but from now until the PGA Championship and being one of the favorites?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't consider myself the face of golf. Absolutely not. Obviously I'm okay with all these things that comes with it. Obviously my main focus is to play good golf and all the media things that comes with it is not really up to me. All I try to do is make sure that for the next tournament that I come prepared, and I think the experience that I've had this week solidifies that we are doing a lot of good stuff and that we are not going to change a whole lot.
THE MODERATOR: Ludvig congratulations on your runner-up finish. Very impressive and thank you for your time with us here today.
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